A General Time Paradox
by Nidoking
Summary: Facing defeat, Queen Beryl gathers fighters from other universes to defeat the Sailor Scouts. Ranma Saotome, Lina Inverse, Ryoko the Space Pirate and others team up to form a deadly force against which the Sailor Scouts are helpless.
1. Prologue: Beryl's New General

A General Time Paradox

Prologue: Beryl's New General

It was a dark day in the Negaverse – even more so than usual, since the Negaverse was a world of total darkness even at its brightest. Queen Beryl sat slumped in her throne, mulling over the facts in her mind. Her army was gone – not a single monster remained, and Malachite, the last and greatest of her four generals, had just met his end at the hands of her greatest enemies, the Sailor Scouts. She'd even managed to capture their partner, Tuxedo Mask, and had brainwashed him into faithfully serving the Negaverse; but the Scouts had rescued him as well, leaving Beryl utterly alone in the darkness into which she had been cast so many centuries ago.

"My invasion is a failure," she moaned. "Great Negaforce, I have failed." She hung her head in shame, covering her face with her gaunt hands. "Is there nothing I can do? Am I doomed to wait here in defeat for the Sailor Scouts to come and put an end to my suffering?"

"No, my Queen," replied a gentle voice from behind the throne. "Your invasion is only just beginning."

Beryl's head jerked to attention. "What? Who said that?" She leaned over the side of the throne, twisting around to see who had spoken. The man who stood there was a complete stranger, but as her gaze lifted to his face, there was something in his eyes that –

"Ah, yes," she recalled. "Chronite, my fifth and most powerful general."

"At your service, my Queen," Chronite said with a deep bow.

*************************************************

Ranma leapt to the fence above Akane's head and ran along the narrow rail, easily keeping pace with Akane as they both raced toward Furinkan High School. Neither one exactly relished the prospect of being late for the third day in a row and having to clean every bathroom in the school as a punishment. The Principal had truly gone far out of his way with his latest scheme to keep Furinkan students on their toes – not content with making every minute that they were in school a living hell, he had now set up obstacles on every street within three miles of the school, forcing the students to fight for their lives from the moment they left the house. The only student who made it through unscathed each day was Tatewaki Kuno, who had grown up in a house full of deadly traps and had learned through much experience how to avoid them.

Normally, Principal Kuno's schemes were little threat to martial artists like Ranma and Akane, who usually defended the less capable students of Furinkan from their crazy headmaster's whims; but the first day's obstacles had caught them by surprise, and they had fallen into the deep pool of wet cement where the sidewalk had originally been. The next day, they had been prepared for that, but not for the concealed shark net that not even Akane's brute strength could break. So today, they were determined to be ready for anything. The trip had been quiet so far, but they knew that somewhere out there, the "Big Kahuna" lay in wait for them.

Suddenly, pineapples began to fall from the sky like hailstones. Ranma grabbed Akane and leapt out of the way of one, which exploded, leaving a smoking crater where she had been standing. They ran together, turning into an alley to escape the explosive fruit storm. "That was close," said Ranma, breathing a sigh of relief once the noise had quieted down.

"He's not just trying to delay us," said Akane. "He's trying to kill us!"

"I think we'll be safe here, for now," noted Ranma.

"But we'll never get to school if we just hide out here," Akane pointed out. She leaned against the wall of the alley to catch her breath.

"Well, we won't get to school if we fall into another one of those traps." As Ranma finished his statement, a wide black hole opened in the wall behind Akane, and she fell backwards into it. Ranma leapt forward, just catching her arm before it disappeared into the hole. "Akane, hang on!" he shouted, not knowing whether or not she could hear him. "That freak's gone too far this time!"

Ranma didn't even sense the punch coming until the fist had made its impression in his cheekbone, knocking him sideways and tearing his hands from Akane's. He watched helplessly as the blackness drew Akane in, out of sight. Ranma darted for the hole, but a foot appeared in front of his stomach and knocked the wind out of him.

Ranma stared up at his assailant and saw a tall, red-haired man wearing skintight red pants and a red tank-top. "Out of my way, pal, before I have to fight my way through!"

"You're welcome to try," invited the red-haired man, beckoning to Ranma. Ranma launched himself at the man, who promptly vanished, appearing behind Ranma at the same instant and planting a palm into the small of Ranma's back. Ranma spun to attack the man again, but he was yards further down the alley. As soon as Ranma took a step toward him, the man was behind him once again, firmly holding Ranma's arms behind his back. Ranma fought to break free, but the man's grip was too strong to break from his current position.

"What do you want with me?" shouted Ranma. "What have you done with Akane?"

"Akane is perfectly safe," replied a sharp feminine voice from the direction of the hole that had swallowed Akane. Ranma turned his head to watch the long, slender, haggard form of the Queen of the Negaverse emerge from the hole and stand before him. "She will remain safe as long as you agree to perform a small service for me."

"I ain't marrying you! I've already got more fiancées than I know what to do with!"

Beryl shook her head. "You misunderstand the nature of my request. I am simply... having a bit of trouble with some belligerent warriors in another world. They have destroyed most of my generals, and I'm trying to hire some new help. You will be paid for your service, of course."

Ranma felt a sense of extreme cold radiating from the woman. Whatever her intentions were, Ranma knew that they were not pleasant. "No deal! Let me and Akane go!" He fought once again to free himself from the red man's strong grip, to no avail.

"Chronite, let him go," ordered Queen Beryl. "I don't think he will do anything rash while his precious woman is in our possession." The hands holding Ranma released him, and Ranma nearly lost his balance. He stared into Beryl's eyes, searching for her motives, but their expressionless gaze told him nothing. "All you must do, Ranma Saotome, is destroy the Sailor Scouts. Then I will return both you and Akane to this very place and time." She paused thoughtfully. "I might even be willing to deposit the two of you at your school, if I am pleased with your work."

"And what if I refuse?" asked Ranma, knowing full well what the answer would be.

"Then Akane Tendo will take your place in my army," replied Beryl. "I will not be denied my victory, especially not by a human like you."

The tone of Beryl's voice told Ranma that not only was she serious, she had the means to do exactly what she threatened. Ranma thought of the power of the warriors that could possibly trouble a woman with as much power as Beryl obviously had, and imagined Akane trying to fight that kind of power. There was no way she would survive. "I'll do it," he agreed. "As long as you promise not to hurt Akane."

"Of course," Beryl replied smoothly. "But know this: the instant you betray me, or plot against me, she will die. It is only my power that can keep her alive in the Negaverse. If that power is cut off..." She let the sentence hang in the air and turned back to the portal. "Chronite, bring him."

Ranma started to protest, but Chronite once again was beside him before he could react. Chronite grabbed Ranma roughly by one arm and dragged him into the blackness. As soon as Ranma was completely inside the portal, it shrank to a point and vanished as if it had never existed.

Seconds later, Principal Kuno poked his head into the alley. "Aloha, keiki! De Big Kahuna got special surprise for ya!" He peered up and down the length of the alley. "Now, where did those keiki get to? De tiger goan' go hungry pretty soon if dey doan' come back..."


	2. 1: More Power Than You Can Shake a Tiara...

A General Time Paradox

Chapter 1: More Power Than You Can Shake a Tiara At!

Ranma found himself staring at a large crystal, inside of which was Akane's motionless body, frozen in a position of complete tranquility. She looked as if she were sleeping, except that her chest didn't rise and fall with her breathing. She was, for all intents and purposes, in a state of living death.

"What have you done to her?" demanded Ranma.

"This crystal is all that is keeping her alive in this world," replied Queen Beryl. "I suggest you don't touch it. Chronite's crystals are fragile enough to shatter at the slightest touch, destroying whatever might lie within as well." Ranma froze in mid-motion, his fingers inches away from the crystal's smooth surface. "That's better. Come with me to meet your new companions."

Ranma followed Beryl through the dark world, passing the occasional ornate column that stretched infinitely up until the darkness swallowed its highest reaches, or tapestry that hung in midair – or at least, whatever substance filled the space of this dimension – until they reached what could only be defined as a room insofar as the enormous throne across the space from him suggested the phrase "throne room." A crystal globe formed a sort of ceiling to the space, although its curve was so expansive that it almost appeared to be a flat surface; even some of the lowest parts of the globe were invisible through the black haze all around. Seated on small boxes below the globe were three women whom Ranma had never seen before.

"So, you brought us a man this time," said the woman with long red hair and a black cape. The impressive – albeit small – array of jewels adorning her tunic and belt somehow spoke to Ranma of a power unlike any he had ever seen before. The word "sorceress" sprang to his mind to describe her.

"Not a bad looker, either," agreed the tall one with off-white hair in a spiky coiffure. Her black and red uniform hugged her flesh tightly across every square inch of its fabric, looking almost as if it were painted on. She also had power, although her only piece of jewelry was a single red gem on her left wrist. Something about her face reminded Ranma oddly of a cat, although not enough so to frighten him. What did set him a bit on edge was the long tail that protruded from the back of her waist, wagging slowly back and forth as she examined him. Still, he told himself, she wasn't a cat.

Ranma looked toward the third girl, whose body seemed a bit younger than the others', although her face was cloaked in shadow. He expected to hear her opinion of him next, but it was the sorceress who stood up and extended her hand. "The name's Lina Inverse. I'm a famous treasure hunter, not to mention a powerful sorceress."

"And a world-class braggart," added the catlike woman. She stood up and faded out, at the same time dissolving into focus a short distance away from Ranma. "I'm Ryoko, galaxy's most wanted space pirate." She smiled, baring her fangs, and blinked her vertically-pupiled eyes.

"Ranma Saotome, of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts," said Ranma. He looked once again toward the girl in the black clothes. "Who's she?"

"She didn't say," said Ryoko. "She was there when I got here, but hasn't said a word yet."

"I hope she's willing to pull her own weight," added Lina. "She gives me the creeps. I have this crazy feeling that she's not in this for the same reasons the rest of us are."

"Why ARE you two here, anyway?" asked Ranma.

"Well..." began Lina, with a slight blush.

"Why don't you tell us your story first, if you're so curious?" demanded Ryoko, crossing her arms. Lina nodded her agreement.

"It's..." Ranma paused. Could he tell these strange girls about his feelings for Akane? He wasn't even entirely sure about them himself! "It's not important," he finished.

"Exactly," said Ryoko. "Our reasons aren't important. All that matters is that we're here, and we've all got something important staked on this mission."

"That's quite true," replied Beryl's voice. Ranma looked up toward the throne to see their would-be benefactor sitting there, smiling her evil smile. "Only one of you has entered my service for selfish reasons." The three of them stared back and forth among themselves before their eyes lit on the girl in black. "However, know this: my last group of generals destroyed each other with their petty bickering. I will not tolerate that from you. If there is any fighting among you, I will destroy that which you so prize. Now, prepare yourselves for your mission!" The air opened in front of them, creating a hole to a world that looked far more normal than the Negaverse. "Through this portal lies the universe of the Sailor Scouts. I do not know their true identities, but if you can attract their attention, they will come to you. Threaten a few humans, and they will come to save them."

"Threaten humans?" asked Lina. "Lady, you're sounding less and less like the good guy!"

"My goals have changed," explained Beryl. "Originally, I sought to steal the energy from humans for my purposes. However, all that I require of you is that you kill the Sailor Scouts. You will not need to harm any other humans. Merely draw out the Sailor Scouts and exterminate them. Then your debts to me will be finished, and I will return what I have taken from you, and give you what I promised."

Ranma stepped through the portal, with Lina and Ryoko right behind. The portal closed behind them. "OUR debts to HER?" asked Ranma, once he was certain that Queen Beryl could no longer hear him. "She's the one who interfered in MY life!"

"She's not exactly the kind of person you can argue with," said Lina. "If she says we owe her, we're going to end up repaying her, whether we like it or not."

Ryoko looked up and down the street. Beryl had deposited them in a back street, far from the prying eyes of humans. "So, where's shadow-girl?" The form of the girl in black shimmered into view beside her. "So nice of you to join us," said Ryoko snidely. "Now, how do we find these Sailor Scouts?"

The girl in black turned her shadowed face to the sky, raised her arm to the heavens, and soared into the sky. "Think she wants us to follow her?" asked Lina.

"How?" asked Ranma. "Do I look like I've got wings?"

Lina sighed. "The only man she can find, and he doesn't even know how to fly? Zelgadis would have helped out once he found out that I got roped into this deal."

"Just carry him," said Ryoko. "We've got to get this over with!"

"Why do I have to carry him?" demanded Lina.

"Because I need to keep my hands free to blast those Sailor Scouts," replied Ryoko.

"I need my hands free to use my magic!" Lina shot back angrily.

Ryoko shrugged. "You want to fight? Remember what Queen Beryl said about fighting in the ranks." She wagged her finger and did her best impression of Beryl's voice. "'Now, kids, if you fight, mommy will take away your favorite things. One tap, and the crystals shatter!'"

Lina clenched her fists, then raised a hand threateningly at Ryoko, palm outwards. "One word, Ryoko! One word, and whatever's so precious to you won't matter anymore, because you'll be dead!"

Ryoko yawned. "I'm so scared. Miss Inverse is going to fry me with a little bitty fireball! Oh, boo hoo! Somebody save me..."

"Hey! Cut it out!" shouted Ranma. "We're supposed to be fighting the Sailor Scouts, not each other, or have you forgotten?"

"That's right!" said Ryoko. "I'll see the two of you when I catch up to the dark one." She teleported into the sky and took off after the girl in black.

"Hey!" shouted Lina. "Come back here!" She groaned. "All right. Looks like I have to carry you." She grabbed Ranma's shirt. "Better hang on tight, Ranma. RAY WING!"

"Better whAAAAAAAAH!" Lina flew up and started on Ryoko's trail, dragging Ranma along behind her. Ranma quickly grabbed her arm for support as the pair ascended higher and higher. "Hey! At least hold on to me if you're going to carry me!"

"You're worse than Gourry!" snapped Lina. For a few seconds, her flight wavered, but she quickly regained control. She continued in a cold tone. "Don't complain again, or I'll let go completely."

"Right," said Ranma, as he finally began to regain control of his breathing. "Who's Gourry?"

"I said I don't want to hear it!"

"You only said you didn't want to hear me complain," muttered Ranma under his breath.

Even with Ranma's dead weight slowing her down, Lina managed to catch up to Ryoko quickly. They flew side by side, glaring at each other from time to time but not saying a word until they reached the girl in black, who was hovering over a nearly empty playground. She pointed a thin finger at the young girl who was enjoying herself on the slide.

"Well?" demanded Lina. "So what? All I see is a little girl. No Sailor Scouts here!"

"She's no Sailor Scout," realized Ryoko. "She's an ordinary girl who made the mistake of being all alone. The perfect target to lure the Sailor Scouts out with."

"So we're supposed to attack a helpless girl?" asked Ranma. "I'm not doing it!"

"Fine by me," said Ryoko. "I can handle this myself." She dove downward and plunged into the earth without disturbing the level ground. With impeccable timing, she poked her head out of the ground in front of the base of the slide just as the girl began her descent. The girl screamed and grabbed the sides of the slide to stop herself.

"Oh, that's REAL cute," said Ranma. "I'm sure that scaring little girls into wetting their pants is just what will bring the Sailor Scouts out of the woodwork."

"I think she's trying to be dramatic," said Lina. "I've seen enough bad guys to recognize their typical style."

"You think Ryoko's a bad guy in her world?" asked Ranma.

"There's definitely something about her I don't trust," Lina replied. "Then again, from what I understand, we're ALL bad guys in this world."

"Hey, we're just doing what we have to do," Ranma shot back.

"That's another thing most bad guys say," Lina informed him morosely.

Meanwhile, down below, the young girl had overcome her fear and now stared curiously at the catlike face of the space pirate. "Who are you?" she asked timidly.

"My name is Ryoko," replied the pirate. "What's yours?"

"Marisa." Marisa paused. "Why are you in the ground?"

"It's fun down here," said Ryoko. "But it's also lonely. Do you ever get lonely, playing in the park by yourself?"

Marisa nodded. "Do you want to play with me?"

"That might be fun," agreed Ryoko, "but I know what would be more fun."

"What?"

"Killing you." Ryoko rose enough to expose her hands, in which a red ball of energy was forming. Marisa gasped and backed away, climbing up the slippery slide as Ryoko released the fireball into the space where Marisa had been seconds before. The metal disintegrated instantly beneath the girl, dumping her painfully onto the hard ground below.

"Hey! We're not supposed to k-" Lina's protest was cut short as the girl in black clamped her hand over the sorceress' mouth. She quickly slapped it away. "What's the big idea, bimbo?"

"She's not aiming for the girl," Ranma pointed out as Ryoko missed with another fireball. "She has to make it look convincing, or the Sailor Scouts will realize that it's a trap and won't come."

"Good thinking," admitted Lina, turning her attention back to the fight below. Ryoko had turned her ball of red energy into a short sword, and was backing the girl up against the jungle gym. Marisa tripped and barely managed to break her fall by grabbing the bars behind her, only to find the energy sword at her throat. "Somebody help me!" she shouted.

"I don't think anyone's coming to save you," said Ryoko, offering a perfect dramatic opportunity for someone to do just that.

"Hold it right there!" shouted a high-pitched voice from the far side of the playground. Ryoko turned to see five tall and slender female forms silhouetted for just a moment before their features became visible. All five wore sailor fuku, consisting of white leotards with colored ribbons at the chest and back of the waist, triangular collars and matching chokers, miniskirts that barely covered the bottoms of the leotards, and varying types of footwear. Each girl also sported a golden tiara with a jewel at the brow.

The girl in the center, obviously the leader, struck a pose. "I've never seen you here before, but I can see that you're up to no good! We are the Sailor Scouts!"

"What?!" shouted Ranma. "The Sailor Scouts are a bunch of GIRLS?"

"Something wrong with being a girl?" asked Lina.

"I don't fight girls," said Ranma flatly.

"I'm sure Queen Beryl will accept that as an excuse," said Lina sarcastically.

Meanwhile, the Sailor Scouts were making their introductions in turn. "I'm Sailor Jupiter!" began the one on the far left. Her skirt and collar were a deep green that contrasted with the pink bow at her chest, her light brown hair had been tied into a ponytail, and her boots were of the type that a cowboy might wear if he didn't object to the green color.

"I am Sailor Mercury!" continued the one on the far right. Her blue skirt and collar almost exactly matched the color of her short hair, leading Ranma to wonder whether superheroes were allowed to use hair dye. Her ribbons were sky blue, and what appeared to be a pair of goggles covered her eyes with a translucent screen, although Ranma's sharp eyes could pick out tiny pixels crossing the screen as if it were a computer readout. Her blue boots reached above her knees, but seemed to be flexible enough to allow movement.

"I'm Sailor Mars!" announced the third Sailor Scout, with waist-long black hair and a blood-red skirt that matched her high-heeled shoes. The ribbon on her chest was a dark navy blue, but the one on her back matched the rest of her uniform in color.

"I'm Sailor Venus!" added the fourth, whose delicate golden tresses nearly reached her knees, almost obscuring the similarly colored ribbon at her back. She also wore a red bow in her hair, but let it fall naturally rather than styling it as Jupiter had. Her skirt and collar were bright orange, while the ribbon on her chest was the same dark blue as Sailor Mars'. Venus also wore shoes that would have worked better for a ball than superhero work, but at least hers were flat-soled.

"And I'm Sailor Moon," finished the leader, who sported a blue skirt that was only slightly darker than Mercury's, light red calf boots, and ribbons the same shade as Mars' skirt. The bow on her chest appeared to be secured by a large round brooch of some kind. However, it was her hair that made her stand out most from her comrades. It was a darker blonde than Venus', which had been tied into two round buns atop her head with red jewels set into them, then trailed into long ponytails that nearly touched the ground. "We fight for love and justice," she continued, striking another pose. "And in the name of the Moon, we shall punish you!" She passed through three more poses while saying her last line.

Ryoko scratched her head. "Is all that posing supposed to intimidate me or something?"

Sailor Moon bit her lip. Obviously, she hadn't expected such a reaction from Ryoko. "Attacking defenseless girls is just wrong! You should be ashamed of yourself!"

"You're right, I should," agreed Ryoko. "But guess what? I'm NOT!" She raised her hand and fired a bolt of energy at Sailor Moon, who screamed and barely dodged it.

"You weren't kidding, Mercury!" shouted Jupiter. "This one's definitely more powerful than the monsters we've been fighting!"

Mercury seemed to be paying more attention to the data flashing across her visor than she was to Jupiter. "Now I understand why I didn't recognize the signal at first," she said. "She's not an agent of the Negaverse!"

"What are you talking about?" asked Ryoko. "Of course I am!"

"You're not from the Negaverse!" insisted Mercury. "You're obviously an evil creature, but you're not one of Beryl's generals!"

Ryoko shrugged. "She hired me, all right. Can't see why, though. You girls don't look that tough to me."

"We'll see about that!" shouted Sailor Mars. "MARS FIRE IGNITE!" Mars clasped her hands together with the index fingers extended and pointed them at Ryoko. Fire flew from her fingertips at Ryoko, who simply smiled as the flames curved around her body without touching her.

"How did she do that?" asked Sailor Moon.

"She's a lot tougher than Beryl's usual crew," said Jupiter. "JUPITER THUNDER CRASH!" A short antenna rose from the front of her tiara as she crossed her arms in front of her body. The air around the antenna crackled with electricity, which leapt in a bolt straight at Ryoko. Once again, the blast turned aside to avoid her, following the curve of a large sphere that became visible for a split second as the electricity touched it. "My electricity's no good either!" cried Jupiter.

"Let me try," offered Venus. "VENUS CRESCENT BEAM SMASH!" She pointed a finger at Ryoko, sending a beam of light that bounced right off Ryoko's shield, narrowly missing Mars on the rebound. "That didn't work at all! How are we supposed to beat her?"

"She can't deflect a solid object," said Mercury, reading from her screen. "Her shield is some sort of energy barrier, but anything solid will pass right through."

"Sailor Moon, use your Moon Tiara Magic!" shouted a deep female voice from somewhere near Sailor Moon's feet. Ryoko looked for its source, but all she could see was a small black cat with a white patch on its forehead in the shape of a crescent moon.

"Right," said Sailor Moon with a nod, apparently trusting the talking cat for strategic advice. She removed her tiara and let it float above her hand. "MOON TIARA MAGIC!" The tiara became a glowing discus, which Sailor Moon hurled at Ryoko. Ryoko watched as the discus approached and passed right through her energy shield before reaching up and casually plucking it out of the air. The Sailor Scouts all gasped.

Ryoko raised the tiara to her eye level. "This thing's supposed to be dangerous?" She dropped it on the ground and stepped on it, smashing it to pieces. As she did so, a new tiara appeared on Sailor Moon's forehead, identical to the original one. "Well, at least you can save money on replacements."

"It didn't work!" moaned Sailor Moon. "What are we supposed to do now?"

"Combine our attacks!" suggested Mars. "She can't avoid them all!" The Sailor Scouts began to blast Ryoko with everything they had, but the space pirate easily weaved and dodged around every one. The few that managed to hit her either bounced off or curved right around her energy shield.

"They haven't got a chance," said Lina. "There's no point in the rest of us even being here."

"Pathetic," agreed a deep, echoing voice from beside her. Ranma and Lina stared in wonder at the girl in black.

"So, you DO talk," said Lina. The girl in black remained silent.

"I've had fun toying with you all," said Ryoko, "but it's time to collect my pay." She formed a sword of energy and flew straight at the Sailor Scouts, who scattered as she swung the sword left and right, narrowly missing them. "Is that the best you can do? You're not even fighting back anymore!"

"This is boring," said Lina. "Let's go down there and help." She floated down to the ground, landing between Ryoko and the main group of Sailor Scouts.

"Two more of them?" asked Mercury. Her eyes widened as she read from her display. "And these two are human!"

Ryoko smiled and turned towards Sailor Moon, who was now sitting on the ground, paralyzed with fear. "I think I'll kill you first," she said slowly advancing on the leader of the Sailor Scouts. As she drew close, however, a red blur passed in front of her, nearly taking her nose with it as it continued on to strike the ground. Ryoko looked down only long enough to see that it was a rose before turning her attention to where it had come from.

A tall, striking figure stood atop what was left of the ruined slide, the long, flowing cape of his black tuxedo waving in a nonexistent breeze to frame him. A white opera mask covered his face beneath the wide brim of his top hat. "Your game ends here, foolish creature!" he announced boldly.

"Tuxedo Mask!" cheered Sailor Moon.

"Are you one of them?" asked Ryoko. "It'd be a shame to have to kill you too. You're cute."

"Do not try to mock me, demon! I am Tuxedo Mask, future Prince of Earth and loyal friend of the Sailor Scouts." He leapt to the ground and stood in front of Sailor Moon, shielding her from Ryoko with his own body. "Any enemy of Sailor Moon is an enemy of mine."

"Tall talk, for a guy who can't even show his face." Ryoko swung her energy sword, leaving Tuxedo Mask barely enough time to block with his cane. "Not bad. Now we'll fight for real."

Ranma pushed Ryoko aside. "The guy in the mask is mine!" he declared. "You and Lina can deal with the girls."

Ryoko's anger was shadowed by the electrifying thought of getting to kill the whiny brats. "Don't worry, Ranma. I've got your back covered." She turned to join Lina in staring down the other four Scouts. "So, who dies first?"

Lina raised her hands as if she were holding a bow and arrow. A long, thin chunk of ice appeared where the arrow would be. "FREEZE ARROW!" she shouted, releasing the spell. The arrow slammed into Venus's chest, encasing her completely in a block of ice before she could react.

"Sailor Venus!" shouted the other Scouts.

"MARS FIRE IGNITE!" Sailor Mars used her fire to melt the ice from around Sailor Venus, who fell to her knees and wrapped her arms around herself, shivering from the cold. "Are you okay, Sailor Venus?"

"I'm fine," said Venus. "I'm just cold."

"Consider that your warm-up," said Lina, rolling up her short sleeves. "Now, get ready for the real action!" She and Ryoko raised their arms in tandem and formed balls of fire. "FIREBALL!"

Mercury jumped in front of the other Scouts. "MERCURY BUBBLES SPLASH!" A spray of bubbles flew from her hands, dissipating the fireballs on contact.

"Not bad," conceded Lina. "But try this on for size! FLARE ARROW!" She repeated the motion that had produced the Freeze Arrow, but the projectile that appeared this time was made of light. She launched it at the Sailor Scouts, who scrambled to dodge it. The explosion threw them in all directions across the playground, but they readily got to their feet and gathered themselves for another attack.

Meanwhile, Ranma was having no trouble dodging Tuxedo Mask's strikes. "After months of fighting Kuno, you're like a practice dummy!" he taunted. He planted a foot into Tuxedo Mask's stomach and watched with pleasure as the caped fighter fell. "I might as well not bother. You can't fight."

"Tuxedo Mask, no!" Sailor Moon crawled to the fallen warrior and threw her arms around his shoulders protectively. "Leave him alone, you bully!" she shouted at Ranma. "Why are you attacking us?"

Despite Ranma's resolve, his stomach lurched as he remembered why he was fighting in the first place. "I ain't got a choice," he said, clenching his fists. "I don't want to hurt anyone, but this is something I gotta do."

"What kind of monster can be an instrument of death while claiming innocence?" asked Tuxedo Mask.

"Shut up!" snapped Ranma. "You'd do the same thing, if you were in my position!"

"Would I?" asked Tuxedo Mask, slowly regaining his feet. "You're obviously more powerful than I am. Don't you know that with that much power comes the responsibility to use it for good?"

"Someone a lot more powerful than me doesn't see it that way..." grumbled Ranma.

"My spells aren't getting us anywhere," said Lina as Sailor Jupiter did her best to keep Ryoko at bay in hand-to-hand combat. The other Sailor Scouts were watching Lina, preparing to attack if they saw an opening but afraid to take initiative and risk exposing themselves. "It's time for something a little more... powerful." She closed her eyes, and as the girls watched, Lina appeared to be standing atop a tall mountain. "Darkness beyond twilight, crimson beyond blood that flows..." she chanted. "Buried in the stream of time is where your power grows..."

"This isn't good!" shouted Mercury. "She's building up a great deal of power!"

"I pledge myself to conquer all the foes who stand..." The shape of a dragon appeared behind Lina as she continued to chant.

The cat leapt onto the fence nearby. "Girls, we have to retreat! We can't win this battle!"

"... against the power you bestow in my unworthy hand..." A huge ball of fire began to form in Lina's hands, and grew as she chanted on.

"Sailor Mercury, quickly!" shouted Tuxedo Mask as he parried a blow from Ranma. "Cover our escape!"

Lina's eyes opened, and the dragon turned to stare directly at the Sailor Scouts. "Let the fools who stand before me be destroyed by the power you and I possess!"

"MERCURY BUBBLES SPLASH!" Sailor Mercury filled the sky with bubbles, which burst instantly, obscuring the entire area under a thick fog. Lina's spell fizzled, uncast.

"What the heck's going on?" shouted Ranma.

Lina growled and raised her arms. "DIEM WING!" A powerful wind blew the fog away, revealing the playground to be completely empty except for herself, Ryoko, Marisa, and a short redheaded girl with a pigtail and the same clothes that Ranma had been wearing. "Damn! They got away!" She shouted.

"So did Ranma, apparently," said Ryoko, staring at the pigtailed girl. "Who are you?"

"I'm Ranma Saotome," replied the girl. "It's a curse. Apparently, that cold fog was enough to trigger my Jusenkyo curse. I can change back into my male form with hot water."

"I don't know where you'd find any," Lina said apologetically. "Zel could probably help you, but I can't think of a hot water spell off the top of my head."

Ranma shrugged. "No big deal. I'm pretty used to my female form by now. I spend enough time in it in my own world... like cold water is attracted to me or something."

Ryoko turned to the cowering Marisa, who had been hiding under the jungle gym since the start of the fight. She fixed the tiny girl with a cold stare. "Get lost, kid." Marisa needed no further encouragement to run for her life. "So, those were the Sailor Scouts... they were lucky this time. Next time we see them, they won't survive."

"If they stop to fight us at all," said Lina. "They'll probably have figured out by our next encounter that they don't have nearly enough power to beat us."

"And what were you doing this whole time?" Ryoko shouted skyward, to the girl in black. She responded by floating down to join the rest of the group. "Why did Beryl even want you, anyway?" The girl stared up into the sky, and what little was visible of her features darkened. "Hey! Answer me!"

"Pluto," said the girl in black. Her eyes glowed, and she vanished.

*************************************************

Sailor Pluto quickly returned her consciousness to her own body, waking in a cold sweat. That girl had recognized her! It was no surprise – after all, Sailor Pluto was the guardian of time in many dimensions, including the ones that the other three had come from – but she shouldn't have even been detectable while using her power to watch over the Sailor Scouts from a distance.

Pluto shakily got to her feet and gripped her scepter in both hands. She had a difficult decision to make. Beryl had obviously found a way to circumvent Pluto's influence and manipulate the timeline. However, if Pluto further disrupted the flow of established time by calling for help, the chances of creating a paradox would multiply a thousandfold or more! But the Sailor Scouts had no way of beating these new foes on their own... The eyes reappeared in Pluto's memory, turning her skin clammy once more. That was a foe who should not have appeared, not in this world....

That decided it. Beryl had definitely gone too far. And if her hunch was right, and HE was somehow involved in this... she had no choice but to take the calculated risk. Her resolve set, Pluto closed her eyes and faded into time. Hopefully, everything would go according to plan... or else there would no longer be an "everything" to suffer for it.


	3. 2: A New Class of Evil

A General Time Paradox

Chapter 2: A New Class of Evil

Later that afternoon, five girls and two cats gathered in the living quarters of the Cherry Hill Shrine to discuss the events of the day. To the outside world, it was an ordinary study-group meeting, but it was actually a cover so that the Sailor Scouts could meet in secret. Normally, these meetings included a vain attempt to help Serena pass her classes, but none of the girls felt like studying after their tough battle, even the usually bookish Amy. Raye had brought in a tray of cookies, hoping to cheer everyone up, but only Mina had any high spirits left. Even the usually relatively cheerful Lita was down in the dumps. "I can't believe we had to run away," she moaned.

"What choice did we have?" asked Raye. "They were way too powerful for us!"

"I'm sorry I wasn't there to help," Artemis apologized. Mina stroked his back, but the white cat didn't purr. "This situation sounds very serious."

"The opponents we fought today were simply not the same type of monsters that we've been fighting all this time," explained Amy. "Our powers won't work against them the way they work against Negaverse-spawned monsters."

"Even Darien couldn't beat them," whined Serena. "I've never had to work so hard! I usually just throw my Moon Tiara or wave the Crescent Moon Wand and everything goes back to normal!"

"Working hard certainly isn't a skill you've had to practice," Luna agreed pointedly from Serena's lap. The black cat always carried a haughty air about her, but she, too, was worried about the new enemies.

"Hard work or not, there has to be a way to beat them," said Mina. "Everyone has a weakness."

"The problem is," put in Artemis, "that your powers, particularly Sailor Moon's, were designed for fighting the creatures of the Negaverse. If Amy's right about these new opponents not being from the Negaverse, you could very well be in over your heads with this fight!"

"But we have to try!" argued Serena. "They were attacking a little girl. More innocent people will suffer if we don't keep fighting!"

"If we do keep fighting, the people who suffer will be us," said Raye glumly. "We're going to need some kind of plan to defeat them." Six pairs of eyes turned to stare at Amy.

"What?" asked Amy, sweatdropping. "I haven't got a plan!"

"We're sunk, then," said Serena. "We might as well give up now. If even Amy can't think of a plan..."

"Now wait just a minute!" Amy interrupted her. "Who says I can't come up with a plan? I simply haven't had any time to think of one!"

Lita clenched her fists. "Well, if our powers are useless, we'll have to find some new powers! Something that will work against a new enemy."

"New powers?" asked Serena. "Where do we find those?"

"I think there's a way to rise to a higher level of Sailor Scout power," offered Luna, "but I can't seem to remember what it is."

"Neither can I," said Artemis. "I wish I could... I've forgotten far too much."

"Well, you're a lot of help," groaned Serena. "'Oh, there's a way you can beat them... but I don't remember what it is!' When are you going to remember?"

"Don't yell at them, Serena," warned Raye. "They're trying their hardest to help us. But it looks like we're on our own for now."

"And meanwhile, this homework isn't going to do itself," said Mina, staring at her workbook.

"Worry about homework later!" snapped Lita. "They could come back at any time!"

"I think Mina's right, Lita," said Amy. "We're probably better off doing something else to take our minds off our problems for a while. Maybe some of this homework will inspire us."

"You think so?" asked Serena, picking up her workbook. "I've never gotten any ideas from homework before... but I might as well give it a try!"

Lita tapped Serena on the shoulder. "You're holding the book upside down, doofus!"

"Really?" Serena sweatdropped and turned the book over. "Hey, you're right! It does make more sense this way around!" She put her hand behind her head and laughed out loud.

"Oh well," grumbled Raye. "Maybe one of the rest of us will come up with something."

*************************************************

Even though they'd seen it before, the Negaverse still amazed Lina, Ranma, and Ryoko after having spent time in the real world again. They marveled anew at the sights – such as they were – as they made their way to Beryl's throne. Or rather, Ranma and Lina marveled at the sights. Ryoko was still staring at Ranma from head to toe. "You're really a girl?"

"I'm really a GUY in a girl's body," replied Ranma. "There's a difference!"

"Doesn't feel any different," said Ryoko, prodding Ranma's chest.

Ranma reminded herself that hitting Ryoko would not be conducive to Akane's safety. "Don't touch me there. The body is real, but I'm still a guy on the inside."

"So, do you sneak into girls' bathrooms a lot back home?" asked Lina. "I bet most guys would do just about anything for the ability to turn into a girl."

"It's not as much fun as you'd think," said Ranma. "I'd give anything to be rid of this curse."

"So, is that why you offered to help kill the Sailor Scouts?" asked Ryoko. "Beryl said that one of us was in it for herself."

"That's not the reason!" snapped Ranma.

"Tou-CHY!" said Lina. "But you really should leave him alone, Ryoko."

"I can't help it," replied Ryoko. "It's the way I am. I can't get my thrills by teasing Ayeka anymore, so I have to find another outlet for my extra energy."

"Save it for the Sailor Scouts," advised Lina. "Next time, we're going to have to finish them off for good."

"It might not be that easy," said Ryoko. "They're like cockroaches – annoying, ugly, and impossible to squash no matter how big a shoe you use."

"They're probably a lot weaker when they're not in uniform," said Ranma. "Remember how Beryl said that they have secret identities? If we could discover who the Sailor Scouts really are, we'd be able to catch them when they don't have their powers." She paused. "On second thought, maybe that's not such a hot idea. If I do have to fight girls, I definitely don't want to do it when they're totally helpless."

"Great," fumed Lina. "He's not only flightless, he's chivalrous as well."

"Well, if you don't want to fight them, then that's your business," said Ryoko. "More action for the rest of us."

"I'm afraid you won't be seeing any action for a while, Ryoko," said Queen Beryl's voice.

"What?" shouted Ryoko furiously. "Why not?"

Beryl appeared before them. "Because I've been listening in to your conversation, and your plan is sound. Your next mission will be reconnaissance. You will have to move around in human society and find the true identities of the Sailor Scouts."

"And how are we supposed to do that?" demanded Lina. "They already know who we are!"

"Just as they disguise themselves, so shall you." She pointed to Ranma. "They have not yet seen Ranma in this form. She will be registered as a transfer student at Crossroads Junior High School."

"Who's going to check out the other schools?" asked Lina.

"You will," replied Beryl. "A simple spell should be enough to obscure your bangles from mortal eyes and give you the appearance of a common schoolgirl at Grass Valley Junior High School. We are quite sure that most of the Sailor Scouts attend one of those two schools."

"Then what do I get to do?" asked Ryoko.

Beryl grinned benevolently. "Someone has to kill the Sailor Scouts once they've been found."

"All right!" cheered Ryoko, slamming her fist into her palm. "Now THAT sounds more like it!"

Beryl waved her arm, and a portal opened behind them. "Ranma, Lina, go. Keep your powers in check until you can discover a likely candidate. Once you think you have discovered a Sailor Scout, isolate her from the rest and confront her. Ryoko will assist you in forcing her to reveal her identity, and then you can destroy her."

"What happens if the girl we find isn't a Sailor Scout?" asked Ranma.

Beryl considered this. "Remove her from future consideration."

"What the heck's that supposed to mean?" asked Ranma.

"Isn't it obvious?" asked Lina. "Once she knows who you really are, we can't let her tell anyone else."

Ranma stiffened. "We're supposed to kill innocent girls? That wasn't part of the deal!"

"The deal is anything I choose to make it," said Beryl. "If you value what the crystal holds, you will do as I say!"

Ranma growled, but managed to keep her anger in check. She whirled and stormed into the portal, with Lina following close behind.

"Do you think those two can do the job?" asked Ryoko.

"If they can't, you'll do it," replied Beryl. "That's why I have four generals."

"What is the deal with that fourth girl?" asked Ryoko. "Who is she?"

"An element of chaos. If things start to go wrong for us, her power will turn the tide in our favor."

"Why don't you use her now?"

"I have my reasons. I suggest that you do not question them again." With that, Beryl turned and walked toward the throne room, leaving behind a confused and slightly irate Ryoko.

*************************************************

"Good morning, class," said Miss Haruna, waiting for the class to settle down before continuing. "We have a new student joining us today."

"Hi," said the red-haired girl, her pigtail pointing straight up as she bowed slightly. "My name is Ranko Tendo." She quickly stood up straight as she felt every pair of male eyes in the room staring intently at her, and she found herself checking her clothing to make sure she hadn't left anything unfastened.

"Why don't you sit next to Serena?" suggested Miss Haruna, pointing to an empty desk next to a blonde girl whose hair was set into two long tails topped with what appeared to be yellow meatballs.

"Sure, sounds good to me," said Ranko. She stepped carefully past the teacher and made her way down the aisle to her desk.

"Hey, hot stuff," a young man whispered as she passed. "What are you doing today after school?" He jumped as the girl sitting behind him poked him hard with the sharp end of her pencil.

Stifling a satisfied chuckle, Ranko slid into her seat and turned to Serena. "That's quite an interesting hairstyle," she complimented the blonde.

"Thanks. It takes a lot of work to set it this way."

"If only you applied that much effort to your schoolwork, you wouldn't be failing," quipped the brunette behind Serena. Ranko stared intently at the girl's ponytail.

"That's not a very nice thing to say, Lita," returned Serena. The two girls fumed, but they both turned their attention to the front of the room, where the teacher was beginning the lesson.

Neither Ranko nor Serena seemed to be able to understand any of what the teacher was saying, and Lita didn't have much more luck. It was a girl with short blue hair at the front of the room who answered most of the questions. Ranko studied her hair even more earnestly than she had Lita's throughout the lesson. Unfortunately, this took even more of her attention away from the teacher.

When the bell rang, Ranko was certain that she knew less about fractions than she had at the start. What made this even more suspicious was that she was quite sure it had been a geography lesson. Ranko sighed. Having to kill innocent girls she could probably learn to deal with. Going to school was another thing altogether.

*************************************************

"Class, this is our new student," said the teacher, pausing. "What did you say your name was again?"

"Amelia Zelgadis," the new arrival said hastily. She'd forgotten to choose a new name before registering, and had had to write down the first thing that came to mind. Now she found herself regretting it, but it was too late to say that she'd changed her mind and her name was actually Martina Zangulus or some other combination of the names of those she had traveled with in the past.

"Well, Amelia," said the teacher helpfully, "you can sit in the back of the room. Try to keep up with the rest of the class."

"No problem," said Amelia, choosing an empty desk and sitting down. She began to study the girls in the class, seeking any sign that one or more of them might be Sailor Scouts in disguise.

"Hey, welcome to Grass Valley Junior High, Amelia!" whispered the girl in the next desk. "My name's Stephanie!"

Amelia examined Stephanie's cheerful smile and long dark hair. In the brief silence, her acute sense of hearing caught the conversation going on between the two boys in front of her.

"Hey!" whispered one. "What do you think of the new girl?"

"She'll probably be pretty cute in a few years," replied the one in front of Amelia, "once her chest develops a little more." Amelia poked him in the back with the sharp end of her pencil.

"Are those guys talking about you?" asked Stephanie. "I'll have a few words with them after class. They're always mean to new girls. But they're not bad guys, once you get to know them."

Amelia glared at the boy who hadn't received a warning poke until he turned his eyes back to the front of the room. "Don't get me wrong," she said to Stephanie. "I'm not a very friendly person."

"That's all right," whispered the blonde in front of Stephanie. "She's that friendly with everyone. Ignore her for a few days and she'll give up."

Stephanie smiled again and straightened up in her desk, her chest jiggling slightly as she did so. "People say that I have a fiery heart that simply burns with congeniality!"

Amelia scowled at the girl's uncanny resemblance to Naga, a chapter of her life best left forgotten, and carefully considered the metaphor. Was it a coincidence that the girl looked like Sailor Mars, minus the jewelry, and compared herself to Mars' element? This search could turn out to be easier than she'd thought.

*************************************************

Ranko didn't have much trouble finding her three suspects at lunch, since they all sat together. Ranko joined them, eager to learn whether these girls might in fact be the Sailor Scouts. Their closeness certainly suggested some association between them outside of school. "So, are you guys good friends?" she asked once the introductions had been made.

"We're study buddies," replied Amy, the blue-haired girl. "Neither Serena nor Lita is having much luck with classes, so we get together with a few other friends after school and do our homework together."

"You might consider a study group, Ranko," suggested Serena through a mouthful of food. "It looks like you could use some help."

"That was a very rude thing to say!" Amy admonished her. "And you shouldn't talk with your mouth full in any case."

"Sorry," said Serena, swallowing her mouthful after the apology. Amy wiped the moist crumbs from her face, provoking a chuckle from Lita and Ranko.

"We'd invite you to join our group, but it's kind of private," said Lita.

"That's all right," said Ranko. They would be easier to observe if they weren't aware of her presence anyway. "This school's a lot easier than my last one."

"Really?" asked Serena. She cast a quick glance at Amy and swallowed the food in her mouth. "I can't imagine a school tougher than Crossroads."

"Oh, you'd better believe it!" said Ranko. "The Principal of Furinkan was a lunatic! He was always trying to cut everyone's hair and made every day a living hell! And then there were the classes on top of that, with teachers that he hired to drive everyone insane."

"How could you even learn anything in those conditions?" asked Lita.

"I couldn't, really," admitted Ranko. "But I did get plenty of practice in the martial arts."

"Really?" Lita leaned forward, suddenly much more interested in her new friend. "I study martial arts too! Maybe we could have a match sometime!"

"I don't fight girls," said Ranko without thinking.

"But you're a girl!" Serena pointed out.

"You don't find many female martial artists around here," added Lita. "I can never find an opponent to practice with outside of the Judo Club."

"Judo, eh? I study mostly kempo myself. It might be interesting to see how our styles interact." And to meet some of your other friends, she didn't add aloud.

"All right!" cheered Lita. "I'm considering that a promise!"

The bell rang. "Geez!" shouted Serena. "Lunchtime's over already?" She quickly crammed the rest of her lunch into her mouth at once and ran for the school building, knocking the others' lunchboxes to the ground.

"What a ditz," said Lita. "We've got plenty of time."

"And the worst part is," added Amy, "she'll be late no matter how fast she runs. Serena always is."

Ranko nodded thoughtfully as she packed up her belongings. Serena, despite her uncanny resemblance to Sailor Moon, was obviously far too clumsy to be a Sailor Scout. The other two, however, were very likely candidates. Lita's martial arts skill would definitely be an asset to the Sailor Scouts, and Amy's blue hair, which perfectly matched Sailor Mercury's, was probably not a common color in this dimension; although, having known a girl with purple hair, Ranko wasn't about to dismiss that possibility out of hand. However suspicious she might be, Ranko still had to be sure before she made her move. Beryl's words still hung over her head. A wrong guess would cost an innocent girl her life... and given the circumstances, that girl was quite likely to be Akane.

*************************************************

Stephanie looked up from her lunch to see the new girl approaching her. "Hey! If it isn't Amelia! What's up?"

"Oh, nothing," said Amelia casually as she sat next to Stephanie. "I was just thinking about what you said before first period. You know, 'fiery heart burning with friendliness' or whatever it was."

"Congeniality," replied Stephanie. "Close enough though. I just get such a kick out of making new friends! You never know what sorts of interesting things they'll have to talk about."

"Yeah, you never know," agreed Amelia. "It's always fun going to new places and meeting interesting people. I hear this town even has superheroes or something!"

"Superheroes? You must mean the Sailor Scouts! They're incredible!"

"You know anything about them?" asked Amelia hopefully. The best way to get information that someone is trying to hide, she knew from experience, is to ask for something related to it and wait for them to slip up and tell you what you want to know.

"Well, they're the most heroic girls I've ever met," said Stephanie with stars in her eyes. "They always fight the monsters that attack innocent people in the name of love and justice! Isn't that such a noble cause?"

"Sure," said Amelia, remembering the "truth and justice" motto of her psuedonymsake. "But who are they, really?"

"Their identities are secret," said Stephanie, making hush motions with her finger. "They probably don't want admirers showering them with gifts or anything hokey like that."

Amelia decided to overlook the similarity to Xellos and move in for the kill. "Or maybe they're worried about their enemies discovering their identities and striking when they're powerless."

Stephanie looked worried. "You think they'd actually try something like that? That would be horrible! I sure hope the Sailor Scouts are prepared for such a dirty scheme."

"Or that somebody thinks to tell them," put in Amelia.

Stephanie nodded, then glanced at her watch. "Oh my! I nearly forgot about band practice!" She leapt to her feet, favored Amelia with a quick bow almost as an afterthought, then ran toward the building as if her life – or someone else's – depended on her speed.

"Bingo," Amelia whispered to herself. "Sailor Mars, you're mine."


	4. 3: The Innocent Shall Suffer

A General Time Paradox

Chapter 3: The Innocent Shall Suffer

Amarah stared at the battleground before her, searching for weaknesses in the enemy lines. Unfortunately, the defense looked quite sound. Amarah's troops were lined up for the attack, but there were no vulnerabilities to exploit. The maneuver would take careful strategy to pull off correctly, and Amarah would be leaving herself open to attack in the meantime. However, if she kept advancing toward her objective, her opponent would have to maintain her defense or risk certain failure. Amarah seized the opportunity to strike first.

She slid her bishop up the board. "Check," she announced.

Michelle nodded. "Going for the king a bit early, aren't you?"

"Why not?" asked Amarah, radiating false confidence. "I think I'm in a winning situation here."

"Hmm. Perhaps." Michelle moved her king to safety behind a wall of pawns. "But you can never be too careful."

"Maybe I've just been playing this game too much," said Amarah. "I've seen just about every strategy in existence."

"You certainly are a chess veteran," agreed Michelle, resting her elbows on the table and her chin on the backs of her hands.

Amarah re-examined the situation. Michelle's king was trapped behind the pawn wall, and all of her pieces were defensively arranged, quite a few in the back rank. Amarah was a rook and a knight up, and that knight was attacking two of the pawns in front of Michelle's king. She pushed her queen up to the seventh rank, right next to Michelle's queen. With the bishop defending that square and the knight defending the adjacent square, it was mate in one, and if Michelle took the attacking queen, the exchange would work out in Amarah's favor. "I think this game is over," announced Amarah.

"That it is," replied Michelle. She pushed her queen right past Amarah's pieces, to the back rank. "I believe that's checkmate."

Amarah's eyes goggled. "What? That's impossible!"

"You were playing for the back rank mate, weren't you? Well, you forgot to give your own king an avenue of escape."

Amarah pounded her fist on the table, knocking most of the pieces over. "Damn! How could I have missed that?"

"It's my innocence," said Michelle. "My poker face is a smile. That way, my opponent never knows what I'm thinking."

"I suppose this game should teach me a lesson. Never try to attack until you're sure that your defenses are solid."

"A good lesson," agreed Michelle. "You can benefit from it in life as well as on the chessboard."

"It's strange, how such an ordinary game can be so relevant in one's life," said Amarah.

"Chess is far from being an ordinary game," said Michelle. "Just as love is far from being an ordinary emotion."

"Where did that comparison come from?"

Michelle simply smiled. "Care for another game?"

"What else have we got to do?" Amarah started to right the pieces that had fallen. "It's been too quiet around here lately."

Michelle hummed her consent. "I'd like to see some action, as horrible as it may sound. The problem with being a hero is that your job is to try to put yourself out of business."

"There's no danger of that any time soon," said Amarah. "They'll be attacking the solar system for as long as we live, and probably even longer."

"Are you suggesting that we see about having children?" asked Michelle innocently.

Amarah snorted. "Not likely! Even if there were any men around, I wouldn't have anything to do with them! Why do you think only women can have Sailor Scout powers?"

"Because men don't look as pretty in miniskirts," Michelle replied seriously.

Amarah sighed. "That's why you beat me so often. You can keep a straight face through anything."

"I'm sure you could find a way to get a rise out of me," teased Michelle.

"Does that mean you don't want to play another game?" asked Amarah, leaning over the chessboard and smiling cockily.

"We could probably find a better way to occupy our time, if we put our minds and bodies to it." The two stared into each other's eyes and saw even more stars than in the night sky.

The sound of a throat clearing caught their attention. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything," said the woman who was now standing beside the table.

"If it's worth the trouble of coming all the way out here, I'm sure it must be more important than what we were doing," Michelle said quickly, before Amarah could say something undiplomatic.

Amarah laid her forehead in her hand and stared sideways at their visitor. "Sure. Must be important. So what's up, Sailor Pluto?"

Sailor Pluto bowed her head. "The Inner Scouts are in trouble. They are facing new opponents with far more power than they are prepared to face at this time."

"But we already saw them safely to the start of the Crystal Millennium!" said Amarah.

"That is why the problem they are facing is so grave," said Pluto. "The new enemy is attacking them during the invasion of the Negaverse."

"An enemy in the past?" asked Michelle. "How is that possible?"

Sailor Pluto shook her head. "I do not know how it could have happened, but Queen Beryl has discovered a way to release part of Chronite's power."

"I don't understand," said Michelle. "Who is Chronite?"

"Beryl's fifth general," replied Pluto. "He has the power to manipulate time, just as I do. However, his power also allows him to reach parallel dimensions."

"Parallel dimensions?" asked Amarah.

"Some dimensions are created by choices that are made... choices large enough to affect the outcome of a timeline. They are merely different possibilities of what might happen under different circumstances within a universe. Those are oblique dimensions. Other dimensions are completely disconnected from each other, and contain very different worlds. Those are called parallel dimensions, for they never meet. Each parallel dimension contains many oblique dimensions. Do you understand?"

Michelle nodded thoughtfully. "So Chronite doesn't have the power to change the outcome of the timeline... but he does have the power to reach other universes?"

"Correct. Within our own dimension, Chronite's powers are limited by a seal which I have placed on this universe. That is why he cannot control time. However, in other universes, he has full control of his powers."

"Then why is he such a threat to the Sailor Scouts?" asked Amarah.

"He is using his power to draw powerful fighters from parallel dimensions," explained Pluto. "These people are not of our world, and as such, their effect on the timeline cannot be predicted. It is entirely possible that these new adversaries could destroy the Sailor Scouts and prevent the coming of the Crystal Millennium, destroying this entire set of oblique dimensions."

Amarah glanced at the chessboard and gulped. "If the timeline shifts... we'd be wiped out!"

"The effects could be even worse," said Sailor Pluto. "If history as we know it is changed within that oblique dimension, it could create a paradox. The power of paradoxes is beyond even my control. It could easily wipe out all oblique dimensions, and possibly even affect other parallel dimensions as well."

"That probably sounds worse than it is," said Amarah.

"No, I'm afraid it's quite likely exactly the opposite. A sufficiently large paradox could destroy all of existence, if allowed to fester in the timeline."

"Then there's hope to correct the paradox?" asked Michelle.

Pluto nodded. "If the events that shape history proceed as they must, then what happens in the meantime doesn't matter. In this case, the Sailor Scouts are known to have sacrificed their lives so that Sailor Moon could defeat Queen Beryl. If any of them dies before her time, that will create a paradox."

"Then it's up to us to protect them," said Michelle.

"It's not quite that easy," said Pluto. "The Sailor Scouts met you for the first time during the period of Mistress 9's invasion."

"That's right," said Amarah. "So if they find out about us then, it would be another paradox."

"But it would be better than leaving the Sailor Scouts to die!" put in Michelle. "There must be some way to help them without revealing ourselves."

"Sailor Uranus, Sailor Neptune; I have faith that you can do this. The Sailor Scouts haven't yet realized their full potential, so their powers are not as strong as they would be when you first met them. It will be your power that turns the tide in their new battle."

"If Queen Beryl is summoning the most powerful fighters from other worlds, will even our power be enough to stop them?" asked Michelle.

"Especially if we have to act without the Inner Scouts finding out about us," added Amarah. "That will make it tough to fight."

"I'm sorry," said Sailor Pluto, "but you are the highest power I can safely turn to. Believe me, I'm taking a great risk even in bringing you back. If anything does happen, then your presence at that time can only make matters worse. But it is a risk I must take. I have run out of other options."

"Can't you use your own power to help them?" asked Michelle.

"No," Pluto replied sadly. "It is forbidden."

"But you can bring us back in time, and that's okay?" asked Amarah.

"I really don't have time to explain at the moment," said Pluto quickly. "I can't even use my powers to halt my own timeline while I visit other points in it. Time is still passing, and the next battle is rapidly approaching. You must decide quickly."

"Decide? You mean we have a choice?"

"I cannot force you to help me, Sailor Uranus. I do have other resources at my disposal. However, the risks associated with them are far greater. I have come to you because you have the greatest chance of succeeding at the least risk. However, it is still not certain that you can win."

"Not my favorite odds," said Amarah.

"But we'll take the job," said Michelle.

"Thank you so much," breathed Pluto with a bow. "I will send you there when you are ready." She backed away and vanished, sending a chill wind through the windowless room. A few chess pieces fell over, clunking loudly on the chessboard.

"Well, shall we get changed?" asked Amarah.

Michelle gasped. "Uranus... look at the board!" Amarah looked. Of all the pieces which had been replaced, only the two kings had fallen when the wind had blown.

"A bad omen," said Amarah.

"Yes. I hope this doesn't mean the worst."

"Hoping is all we can do, right now," said Amarah, clutching her transformation wand to her chest. "Ready?" She glanced at Michelle, who was bent over the chessboard, leaning heavily on the table with her head down. "What's wrong? Are you sick?"

"I just have such a bad feeling about this... Maybe we shouldn't go back. We can just tell Pluto that we can't do it. I know she'll understand..."

Amarah wrapped her arm around Michelle. "It's okay. I know you're scared. I am too. But we promised to help, and you know Pluto wouldn't have come to us if she had any better options."

Michelle nodded and held Amarah's hand, squeezing it gently. "You're right. The Inner Scouts are depending on us." She stood up and grasped her transformation wand firmly. "Let's do it."

*************************************************

"So, are we on for tonight at 8?" asked Lita as she and Ranko left school together.

"Sure thing," said Ranko. "I'm looking forward to seeing your fighting style." They waved to each other, and Lita ran to join her two friends. Once she was out of earshot, Ranko continued talking to herself. "I should be able to compare your style to Sailor Jupiter's next time we fight. That will tell me for sure whether or not you're really her." A stream of hot water poured onto Ranko's head from the heavens, turning her into her male form. "Hey, what gives?" shouted Ranma.

"You don't want to fight the Sailor Scouts as a girl, do you?" asked Ryoko. She floated down next to Ranma and dropped her empty thermos. "Lina's picked a target."

"Already? All I've got is suspects so far. I want to investigate a bit more."

"Boring! Lina and I both want to see some action!"

"How can she be so sure she's got the right girl?" asked Ranma.

"Who cares? It's something to do. You wouldn't believe how boring it is, having to sit there in the Negaverse, staring into that globe at you two putzing around in class..."

"I'M the one who has to endure those classes!" Ranma pointed out. "It's okay for you; you're safe in another universe entirely! Why don't you try sitting in on Mr. Haneda's history class in person sometime?"

Ryoko grabbed Ranma under the arms and took to the sky. "Whatever. If we don't hurry, we'll miss all the best fighting!"

"Fine by me," said Ranma under his breath as they rose into the air.

*************************************************

"Excellent," said Beryl to herself. "All the players are in position. Now the fun begins."

The girl in black watched silently, saying nothing.

*************************************************

Stephanie hummed to herself as she headed for home. The great thing about band practice was the way the songs stuck in your head afterwards. The lively beat set her at a brisk pace toward home. Tonight was sushi night. Stephanie's mom made the best sushi in the city, as far as Stephanie was concerned. Her hyperactive energy was nearly at the bursting point, and she felt like skipping, but kept herself in check. There was no point in drawing attention to herself.

"Hey, Stephanie!" called a friendly-sounding voice from the park. Stephanie turned to see a woman standing in the shadow of a tree, resting her back against the tall trunk. As she leaned forward, her red hair caught Stephanie's eye.

"Amelia! Is that you?" Stephanie started to wave, but her hand fell to her side as the woman stepped out of the shadow. Jewelry all over the woman's clothing caught the sunlight, and her cape trailed behind her as she walked. "You're not Amelia! Who are you?"

"I'm Lina Inverse," replied the woman. "I'm disappointed you don't recognize me."

"Recognize you? From where? I don't believe we've met!"

"Of course we have, Stephanie," said Lina. "Or should I call you... Sailor Mars?"

Stephanie's eyes widened. "What are you talking about? I'm not Sailor Mars!"

"Oh, come now," said Lina, gathering energy in her hand. "You don't need to pretend any more. I already know your true identity, so just transform into Sailor Mars so I can get this over with."

"I told you, I'm not Sailor Mars!" shouted Stephanie.

"Methinks the lady doth protest too much," said Lina with a smile. "If you don't transform, you'll be completely defenseless. Isn't there a point at which keeping your identity secret just isn't worth the trouble any more?"

"Why won't you believe me?" sobbed Stephanie. "I'm not a Sailor Scout at all!"

"So what was all that talk about fiery hearts and truth and justice?" asked Lina.

"How did you know about that?" asked Stephanie.

"You ran away to warn the other Scouts when I let my plan slip, just like I thought you would," Lina continued.

"I don't understand! What plan? I really don't know what you're talking about!"

Lina sweatdropped. "Geez, how dense can you get? I know Beryl said that people in this universe can't recognize anyone wearing a bit of jewelry, but this is just ridiculous!"

Stephanie took a careful step backward, staring at the energy collecting in Lina's hand. "Please, I don't want any trouble!"

"It's too late for that," said Lina. "If you really are Sailor Mars, then I have to kill you because you're a threat to my employer; not that I really care what she thinks, but I've got a pretty big stake invested in this mission. And if you're telling the truth, then you know too much for me to let you live."

Stephanie shook her head emphatically, continuing to back away. "I don't know anything about you! Really!" As Lina began to advance on Stephanie, keeping their distance constant, Stephanie raised her voice. "Somebody help me! I'm being attacked!"

"Nobody's going to rescue you, Sailor Mars," said Lina. The energy collected into a fireball. "By the time anyone finds you, you'll be nothing more than a pile of ash. That is, unless you defend yourself now."

Stephanie's foot came down on a smooth rock, tripping her. She fell flat on her back, but quickly caught her breath, snatched up the rock, and threw it at Lina. The sorceress closed her eyes and snapped her fingers, and the rock shattered in midair.

When Lina opened her eyes again, the reflection of the flames in her eyes was even brighter than the fire in her hand. "Dammit, transform already! I'm losing my patience here!" Stephanie's mouth moved, but all that emerged from her throat was a strangled gasp. "I really don't want to kill you when you're helpless, but you're leaving me no choice!" Lina shouted furiously. She aimed her hand at Stephanie. "You've got one more chance before I let you have it!"

Stephanie closed her eyes and her chest began to heave with her sobs. Lina's teeth clenched in anger. "I hate you!" shouted Lina. "You make me sick!" The fireball began to grow in intensity as Lina worked herself into a frenzy. Killing was never easy, particularly when the target was human, but Lina knew that if she could become angry enough, she could get the job done and the misery wouldn't come until her target was long dead. "You really are Sailor Mars, no matter what you say, and that means you have to die!"

Lina paused, the fireball fully primed and ready for casting. Stephanie, confused by the silence, looked up into Lina's eyes, and the sorceress swallowed hard. Could the pure innocence she saw really belong to the fiery Sailor Mars? The fireball flickered. Lina clenched the fist of her free hand and turned away. Not having to look helped her muster her determination. "This is for Gourry!" she shouted, and the flames burned brighter than they ever had before. "Now! FIREBALL!"

Lina felt rather than heard the explosion as her fireball struck home, tearing a hole in the street where it had impacted. She turned to where Stephanie had been, reminding herself that not looking wouldn't change anything at this point. To her surprise, she saw only an empty crater where she had expected an assortment of body parts.

"Are you okay, Stephanie?" asked a soft voice from off to Lina's left. She turned to a girl in an orange sailor fuku carefully laying Stephanie down beside a tree. Stephanie groaned weakly in response. "That was a close one! I thought we were both dead!"

Lina growled. "You moved her before I cast my Fireball spell, didn't you?"

"That's right!" shouted the Sailor Scout, striking a defiant pose. "I'm Sailor Venus, defender of love! Stephanie is a kind girl with a pure heart full of love! How dare you try to kill such a wonderful person!"

Lina quickly shut out Venus' words, reminding herself that her temper was the only thing that would keep her mind on the fight and prevent her from losing her nerve. "My mission is to kill all of you, but right now I'm only after her. If you leave now, you'll live to fight another day."

"Never! I will defend the lives of the innocent with my own life if I have to!"

"You asked for it! FIREBALL!"

Venus took an offensive stance and pointed her finger at the incoming fireball. "VENUS CRESCENT BEAM SMASH!" The fireball exploded just short of Venus, throwing her backwards. She tripped over Stephanie and landed hard on her butt. "Ouch! That's some power!" she said as she stood up, rubbing her aching posterior.

"Get ready," warned Lina, "because here comes another just like it!" She raised her arm, and a sharp pain lanced through her wrist. She stared at her hand as a trickle of blood began to run through a long slit in her white glove. "How did that happen?"

"VENUS CRESCENT BEAM SMASH!" shouted Sailor Venus, taking advantage of Lina's distraction to launch her own attack. The beam struck Lina in the chest and knocked her backwards. Lina's foot crushed a rose that appeared to have been thrust into the ground as she stumbled.

"A rose?" asked Lina. "That must have come from that Mask guy!"

"That's Tuxedo Mask to you, evildoer!" said Tuxedo Mask, leaping down from his perch on a tree branch. "Those who attack the innocent must pay for their crimes!"

"Tuxedo Mask, get Stephanie to safety!" shouted Venus. "I'll keep her busy!"

"I don't think so," said Lina. "FREEZE ARROW!" She raised her hands as if holding a bow and arrow, and a crystal of ice formed where the arrow would be. She released the crystal at Sailor Venus, who couldn't react quickly enough as it flew toward its mark. It was only Tuxedo Mask's quick reflexes that saved her, as he leapt in front of the projectile and protected Sailor Venus with his own body. The ice covered him from head to toe as the crystal struck him, imprisoning him in a cocoon of ice.

"Tuxedo Mask, no!" shouted Sailor Venus. "Don't worry! Sailor Mars will thaw you out soon, I promise!"

"That's the idea," said Lina, marveling at how perfectly the details had fallen into place. "The only way you can save him is for your friend there to turn into Sailor Mars."

Venus looked down at Stephanie, then back to Lina. "What? She's not Sailor Mars!"

Lina laughed, suddenly understanding why Naga had always tortured her with that annoying whiny laugh. There was no better way to shut out your opponent's words and keep your temper in the killing zone. "You're lying!"

"Please," moaned Stephanie as she stood up, using the rough trunk of the tree to pull herself to her feet. "Don't fight over me..."

Sailor Venus spread her arms wide. "If you want to hurt Stephanie, you'll have to get through me first!"

"My pleasure," said Lina, flashing her teeth evilly. "FIREBALL!"

Venus stood her ground as the fireball approached, pointing a single finger at the incoming projectile. "VENUS CRESCENT BEAM SMASH!" This time, the fireball exploded far enough from both combatants to avoid damaging either of them.

"Okay, is that the way you want it?" asked Lina, rolling up her sleeves. "Then try this on for size! BURST RONDO!" This spell launched hundreds of tiny glowing discs at Venus. Venus' first impulse was to dive out of the way, but that would expose the still-weak Stephanie to the attack, and there was no time to move her out of the way. Gritting her teeth, Venus braced herself for the impact.

A force that had destroyed many walls slammed into Venus, throwing her backwards to land on top of Stephanie. Venus quickly arranged herself to protect her charge from the flying discs, feeling them pound into her back like stones from a sling. She lowered her head and covered it with her hands, knowing that if even one of the discs found its mark in the wrong spot, she could be paralyzed or even killed instantly by the force.

Fortunately, Lina soon let up her spell. "Too bad you didn't run when you had the chance," she said, raising her arm for one final attack. "FIREBALL!"

Venus turned to face the incoming fireball, but as soon as she shifted position, the damage done by the Burst Rondo took its toll. Intense pain shot through the top half of her body, forcing her to curl into a ball. She did her best to shield Stephanie from the blast, but every inch she moved caused the pain to double. Unable to move any more, Sailor Venus closed her eyes and waited for the end.

"MERCURY BUBBLES SPLASH!" came the timely shout from the far end of the park. Bubbles filled the air between the fireball and Sailor Venus, dissipating the flames on contact. Sailor Venus stared gratefully through tear-streaked eyes at her rescuers. Sailors Moon, Mercury, and Jupiter stood atop the statue in the center of the park.

"Thanks, guys," she whispered. "You got here just in time." Having said this, Sailor Venus lost consciousness, collapsing onto Stephanie.

"Sailor Venus!" shouted the Sailor Scouts as they ran through the park to kneel beside their unconscious comrade.

"She's okay," said Sailor Jupiter. "She'll survive, as long as she isn't hurt any worse until we can get her out of here." The three Scouts took up protective positions between Lina and Sailor Venus.

"We are the Sailor Scouts!" said Sailor Moon. "We stand for love and justice! You've not only attacked an innocent girl, but you've hurt Sailor Venus as well! And for that," she finished, striking her familiar pose, "we shall punish you!"

Lina took a quick mental count. "What a coincidence... the only one who's missing is Sailor Mars."

"She's just running a little late today!" said Sailor Moon.

Lina pointed to Stephanie. "Well, she's about to be late in another sense. The late Sailor Mars!"

"What's she talking about?" asked Mercury. "Do you know who that girl is, Jupiter?"

"A friend of Venus'?" guessed Sailor Jupiter. "I don't think I've seen her before."

"Lies! All lies!" shouted Lina, her fury reaching fever pitch as she drew on all the magical power she could handle. "BURST RONDO!"

As the discs spun their way toward the Sailor Scouts, Sailor Mercury spread her arms in front of her body. "MERCURY BUBBLES SPLASH!" The bubbles floated from her hands to intercept the discs, canceling out the magical power.

"FLARE ARROW!" shouted Lina, launching an arrow of light at the Sailor Scouts.

"JUPITER THUNDER CRASH!" countered Sailor Jupiter, crossing her arms in front of her chest and extending her index and pinky fingers. Lightning crackled, absorbing the power of Lina's attack.

Lina growled. "You're not leaving me any choice! I didn't want to have to use the Dragon Slave and destroy the whole city just to kill you!"

"Well, that's a pleasant change," said Sailor Moon speculatively. "Normally the bad guys are trying to kill everyone else and we show up to save them!"

"She's gathering a lot of power!" shouted Sailor Mercury. "We have to escape!"

"But we can't leave Venus and her friend here!" protested Jupiter.

"You're right," said Mercury. "We have to hold her off until Sailor Mars gets here to thaw out Tuxedo Mask."

"Tuxedo Mask?" asked Sailor Moon. "Where's my Tuxedo Mask?" Her head whipped around as she searched the park for her future husband until her eyes fell on the block of ice beside her. "Oh no! Tuxedo Mask!" She knelt beside the ice crystal and leaned against it, her breath misting on its surface. "Don't worry, Tuxedo Mask! We'll get you out of there, I promise!"

Lina raised her hand to launch the spell that would destroy Sailor Moon, but as the dark power gathered, her vision swam. She saw herself in Sailor Moon's place, crying against the crystal in which Gourry was imprisoned. As she watched, the crystal shattered, each fragment splitting into smaller and smaller pieces until there was nothing at all left but the cuts on her hands from the shards that had broken off under her palms. Her hand dropped to her side as she watched the vision unfold. The rage was gone. She couldn't bring herself to destroy Sailor Moon now, even for Gourry's sake.

A fireball landed at Sailor Moon's feet, throwing her and the block of ice in opposite directions. "Hey, looks like most of them are still alive!" cheered Ryoko as she and Ranma landed beside Lina. "Now it's time to clean up!"

"I can't," choked Lina inaudibly.

Ranma pointed to Sailor Jupiter. "You and me, one on one!" he shouted, stepping away from his teammates.

Ryoko clapped her hands together. "All right, Lina. Do you want Mercury, or the leader?" Lina didn't respond. Ryoko waved her hand in front of Lina's face. "Hello?" Ryoko shrugged. "I guess I'll take care of the rest of them."

"JUPITER THUNDER CRASH!" shouted Jupiter, launching her electric attack at Ranma. Ranma screamed in pain as the electricity lanced through his body, but the shock was momentary. He fell to one knee and glared up at Jupiter.

"Is that the best you've got?" he asked. Before Jupiter could strike again, he darted in to close range and began a simple combination of attacks, watching carefully as Jupiter blocked them. He gave Jupiter an opening and was pleased to see that she took it, pressing the offensive and forcing Ranma to defend himself. The pattern was simple, but Ranma took in the details of her form and technique as he easily dodged the blows.

Meanwhile, Ryoko slowly advanced on Sailor Mercury and the still-dazed Sailor Moon, drawing her energy sword. Sailor Mercury raised her hands. "MERCURY BUBBLES –"

"Oh, no you don't!" shouted Ryoko, charging at Mercury. Mercury had to halt her attack as she barely ducked under Ryoko's sword swing. A second swing narrowly missed its mark as Mercury fell backwards, but the blade sliced the front of her skirt apart. Ryoko raised her sword above her head, point down, and prepared to thrust it down into the Sailor Scout's chest.

"MARS FIRE IGNITE!" Ryoko turned toward the voice, but the attack had caught her off guard. Before she could focus her energy into her shield, the flames rolled over her body, charring her.

Lina snapped to attention. "Sailor Mars?" She looked down at Stephanie, who was still lying under Sailor Venus, and then to the girl in the red skirt at the park entrance. "Then... she really isn't...?"

"Sailor Mars!" cheered Sailor Mercury.

"Sorry I'm late," said Mars. "I got over here as soon as Artemis told me what was going on!"

"Sailor Venus and Sailor Moon are both down," said the white cat beside her. "I think it's probably time for a retreat!"

Ranma froze. "Is that a c-c-c-c-c-" Jupiter's fist landed in Ranma's face, sending him stumbling backwards. He quickly focused as best he could on his opponent, but his spine tingled every time his eyes returned to the tiny white form at the park entrance, weakening his defenses.

"We're not going to be able to escape this time," said Mars. "We'd have to leave somebody behind. This fight is for real!" She aimed her fingers at the nearest target, which happened to be Lina. "MARS FIRE IGNITE!" Lina made no move to avoid the blast.

"Hey, watch it!" shouted Ryoko, interposing herself between Lina and the fire and using her own shield to block the blast. "What's wrong with you?"

"I can't do it," said Lina. "I can't fight them."

"You were doing fine a few minutes ago!" said Ryoko.

"They're fighting the same battle as we are."

Ryoko shrugged. "That's the point, isn't it? There are two sides. That's what makes it a battle!"

"No!" shouted Lina. "We're all on the same side! Queen Beryl's got something that's important to each of us. She's got the people we love trapped in crystals... and she's taking over their world."

"And if we don't fight them, she'll destroy the crystals AND take over the world! We're just facilitators, you know! She doesn't feel like wasting her power, so she's hired us to do the dirty work."

"I know," whispered Lina. "I just can't fight them any more. Not right now."

"Fine!" snapped Ryoko. "At least Ranma's doing something." She watched Ranma fight for a few seconds. "Hey, Saotome! You slacker! You're not even fighting back!"

"Huh?" asked Sailor Jupiter as she continued to keep Ranma on the defensive. She'd assumed that her fighting skill was simply too good for her opponent to match, but if he was just holding back... He certainly didn't seem to have any trouble keeping up with her, while her arms and legs were beginning to ache. Yet she didn't dare let up, or he would certainly be able to overpower her.

"What a useless bunch of wimps!" shouted Ryoko. "I have to do everything myself!" She raised her arms and began to launch fireballs in all directions, forcing the conscious Sailor Scouts to dodge the blasts. Sailor Venus awoke as a fireball exploded nearby and leapt to her feet, only to be sent flying by the force of the next impact. Another fireball sent Mars flying headlong into a block of ice near the park entrance.

"This is no good," said Ryoko. "They're too damned agile! I'll just have to find a stationary target." She aimed her arm at Sailor Moon and charged up a fireball. Before she could launch it, however, she was swept off her feet by a giant stone that glowed with such intensity that it appeared to be made entirely of light, surrounded by a ring of energy.

"What was that?" asked Sailor Mercury, searching for the source of the benevolent attack.

Lina turned toward the direction from which the stone had come, only to be struck in the back by a ball of water surrounded by a similar ring. She fell to her hands and knees, shaking the droplets from her hair.

"That one came from that building!" shouted Sailor Venus, pointing.

"Wherever they came from, somebody's helping us!" said Artemis.

A deep voice boomed throughout the park. "SAILOR SCOUTS, YOU MUST FLEE. YOU CANNOT WIN THIS BATTLE."

A cane came down on Ranma's head, knocking him aside. Tuxedo Mask stepped between Ranma and Sailor Jupiter. "Sailor Scouts, it's time to go! I'll take care of Stephanie and Sailor Moon!"

"Are you okay?" asked Jupiter. "You're dripping wet, and you're shivering!"

"Sailor Mars just thawed me out of a block of ice," replied Tuxedo Mask. "Now, Sailor Mercury! Hide us!"

Mercury nodded. "MERCURY BUBBLES SPLASH!" The entire park filled with fog. Ranma quickly scrambled up a nearby tree to get above the moisture before it could trigger his curse.

"Oh, no you don't!" shouted Ryoko. She teleported to the spot where Stephanie lay and drew her sword. "This girl knows too much to live!"

"DIEM WING!" shouted Lina. Wind swept through the park, blowing the fog away. Ranma looked down from his perch to see Sailor Jupiter lift Sailor Moon onto her shoulders. He leapt down to attack her, but a ball of dark energy exploded at his feet, sending him flying backwards into the tree trunk.

"Damn!" said Ryoko. "Who's shooting at us?" She looked around, trying to determine where the shots were coming from, but there was no sign of life outside of the park. She raised her energy sword barely in time to block Tuxedo Mask's swing as he charged at her.

"Tuxedo Mask, no!" shouted Sailor Moon, wriggling free of Jupiter's grip.

"Run, Sailor Moon!" ordered Tuxedo Mask. "I'll protect Stephanie!"

"I won't leave you, Tuxedo Mask!" shouted Sailor Moon.

"LEAVE THIS PLACE NOW, ALL OF YOU!" commanded the disembodied voice.

"Who is that?" asked Venus.

"Never mind who it is," said Jupiter. "I think we should do what they say! They're probably the one helping us!"

"But what about Stephanie and Tuxedo Mask?" asked Sailor Moon.

"I hate to say it, but until we can come up with a plan, we're just putting ourselves in danger by being here!" said Mars. "Sailor Moon, it's time to face facts. Sometimes, we have to make sacrifices!"

"No! I won't just stand here and let innocent people die!" Sailor Moon pulled her tiara off her head and let it float above her hand. "MOON TIARA MAGIC!" The tiara turned into a glowing discus. Sailor Moon threw the discus at Ryoko, who blocked it with her sword. While she was distracted, a glowing stone projectile smashed into her from the side, knocking her down.

"Now's our chance!" shouted Tuxedo Mask, hefting Stephanie onto his shoulder. "Let's go!" He leapt into the air, and the Sailor Scouts all ran for the park entrance.

"You're not getting away from me!" shouted Ryoko, teleporting in front of Tuxedo Mask. She swung her sword, knocking Tuxedo Mask out of the air. He fell to the ground, losing his grip on Stephanie, who rolled for several feet before stopping. As Tuxedo Mask regained his feet, Ryoko's sword was at his throat. "One move, and I'll kill you!"

"Tuxedo Mask!" shouted Sailor Moon.

Ryoko whirled Tuxedo Mask around and wrapped her arm around his chin, holding the sword at his throat with her other hand. "Anyone moves, and I slit his throat! And just in case you're thinking of using any fancy powers, think again! I can kill him before you even say your own name." Raising her voice, she added, "That goes for you other cowards who can't even show yourselves too! Do you think you can hit me without hurting him as well?"

Sailor Mars clenched her fists. "I can't believe there's nothing we can do!"

Ryoko jerked her head toward Stephanie, who was already groaning and starting to get to her hands and knees. "Hurry up! One of you kill her!"

"She's your victim, Lina," said Ranma, making a sweeping gesture toward the girl.

"But she's not a Sailor Scout!" protested Lina.

"You should have done some more research," replied Ranma. "You dug the grave... you have to fill it."

"She's an innocent girl! Why does she have to suffer for my mistake?"

"I don't like it any more than you do, but it's what Queen Beryl ordered."

"That's not an excuse," said Lina, less forcefully.

"Well, one of you hurry up and kill her!" snapped Ryoko. Her words fell on deaf ears, as Ranma and Lina had already stopped arguing and were staring open-mouthed at the new arrival in the park. Ryoko followed their gaze to see the girl in black standing between the now-silent pair and their intended victim. The girl in black strode smoothly over to where Stephanie was and knelt beside her.

"Who is that?" asked Sailor Mars.

"Stay away from her!" shouted Venus.

Sailor Moon took a quick step forward, but Ryoko raised her sword arm threateningly, and she was forced to back away. "Please, don't hurt her!" she pleaded helplessly.

The girl in black knelt beside Stephanie and put a gloved hand under her chin, lifting Stephanie's head until she was staring into the shadowed face. The dark one slowly lowered her own head until her face was right above Stephanie's, and then pressed her lips to the other girl's in a kiss. The kiss lasted less than a second before the girl in black stood up and turned to her comrades.

"She will not talk," said the girl in black. She looked up at Ranma and Lina, who saw just a faint glimmer of white where the girl's eyes should have been before she vanished once again.

Tuxedo Mask took advantage of Ryoko's surprise to elbow her in the stomach and run to kneel beside Stephanie. "Are you all right?" he asked.

Stephanie nodded and opened her mouth to reply, but no sound came out. Shocked, she soundlessly opened and closed her mouth, her alarm increasing as her continued efforts produced no noise at all. "What's wrong with me?" she seemed to ask, and then she burst into silent tears, crying into Tuxedo Mask's shoulder. Sailor Moon stepped forward with an angry expression on her face, but Sailor Jupiter held her back.

"Now isn't the time to be jealous," said Jupiter.

Ryoko stared at Ranma and Lina, who stared back. Feeling that something more needed to be said, Ryoko floated nearer and stood over the crying girl. "You're lucky we've let you off so easy," she said, pausing to allow Stephanie to look up at her. "But if you ever tell anyone about what happened here today, we'll come back, and we will kill you. Understand?" Stephanie nodded, and Ryoko turned around to join Ranma and Lina. "Let's go. We'll take care of the rest of them another time." The portal to the Negaverse opened, and they stepped through it.

The Sailor Scouts all breathed a sigh of relief. "Stephanie, are you okay?" asked Venus.

Stephanie stood and ran to Sailor Venus, throwing her arms around the Scout. She looked up at Venus and mouthed the words "Thank you," before the tears began again. The other Sailor Scouts stood in a circle around the silenced girl, wrapping their arms around her in a consoling group hug.

Sailor Mercury raised her head. "Thank you for helping us..." she called to their invisible assistants. "Whoever you are..." She bowed her head and joined in the group prayer that Sailor Mars was leading. She knew that they hadn't won the fight; it had been a draw at best, and it was only the outside interference in their favor that had saved their lives. Although the words of Mars' prayer were for Stephanie's recovery from her condition, the Sailor Scouts all knew the real intent of her plea to the spirits. It was a prayer of gratitude that they were all still alive, and a prayer for the strength to survive the rest of their battles.

"Just keep hoping," whispered Mercury, as much to herself and the other Scouts as to Stephanie. "Everything will work out if we keep believing." That said, she closed her eyes and let the peaceful mantra of Mars' prayer push the memory of the battle out of her mind and calm her nerves, confident that when the time came to fight again, they would be ready to rise to the challenge.

*************************************************

Once she was sure that the Inner Scouts were out of earshot, Sailor Uranus kicked the alley wall in disgust. "Why? Why couldn't we just have finished them off right here? That girl wouldn't have to suffer if we'd gotten the job done!"

"Because we would certainly have been discovered," replied Pluto. "Although the lives of the Inner Scouts are our top priority, we must not them find out about us."

Uranus groaned in frustration. "So we're reduced to occasional shots from the sidelines? We'll never win that way!"

"I had hoped that the Sailor Scouts would have heeded my warning and left," said Pluto. "Once they were gone, we would have been able to confront their enemies directly. Unfortunately, they failed to escape."

"We could probably have won the battle if we'd gotten there just a bit sooner, before the other Scouts showed up," said Neptune.

"Unfortunately," countered Pluto, "'ifs' are the building blocks of the past. The future is made of 'therefores.'"

"I've seen more comprehensible proverbs in fortune cookies," said Uranus.

Neptune sighed. "She means that it's no good to sit around brooding about what we could have done. We have to decide what to do next. IF we had gotten there earlier, we could have done more, but we didn't. THEREFORE, we have to plan for our next battle."

"Exactly," agreed Pluto. "The enemy will be alert to our presence the next time we fight, and that will make our task more difficult."

"If they discover us, they could betray us to the Inner Scouts," said Neptune.

"Then we're even worse off than before!" shouted Uranus.

"I never said that this battle would be easy," replied Pluto. "We are fighting powers that could destroy the universe, even without the power of a paradox."

"Then you know something about them?" asked Neptune.

Pluto nodded slowly. "I do. But because of the nature of one of them, I cannot tell you about them. The knowledge belongs to the Gate of Time, and for me to divulge it, even to you, could cause a paradox."

"These damn paradoxes keep popping up everywhere!" fumed Uranus. "We can't get anything done without destroying the fabric of the universe!"

"Do not lose hope," urged Pluto. "I think I may have a plan that will allow us to defeat our enemies the next time we meet."

"That's a relief," said Neptune. "What is it?"

"If you can tell us without causing a paradox," added Uranus.

"I don't think that will be a problem," said Pluto with a smile.

"A non-paradoxical plan that will work?" Uranus smirked. "It's too good to be true."

"Just have faith in Pluto, Uranus," chided Sailor Neptune. "After all, she placed her faith in us."

"All right. I'll go along with it. But this plan had better work!"

Pluto stared into the sky. "I hope so," she replied. "I truly hope so."

  



	5. 4: The Plan Before the Storm

A General Time Paradox

Chapter 4: The Plan Before The Storm

Ryoko sighed, producing a hollow echo throughout the Negaverse. "That was a total waste of time! That girl wasn't even a Sailor Scout!"

"I told you it was too soon to know," put in Ranma.

"But I was so sure it was her!" Lina protested. "You should have heard her talking after class..."

"Well, she won't be making THAT mistake again," said Ryoko.

"Don't remind me," snapped Lina. "I feel bad enough, all right?"

"Well, it could be worse," Ranma pointed out. "We could have had to kill her."

"I still don't get it," said Ryoko. "There we were, ready to kill an innocent girl, and who comes to the rescue but shadow-face?"

"What's not to get?" asked Ranma.

"Why did she do it?" returned Lina. "I mean, I figured she'd be the cold-hearted killer of the group. Always walking around with that shadow spell or whatever it is, never saying anything... she just FEELS evil. So why would she be the one to spare Stephanie's life?"

"It makes perfect sense to me," said Ranma. "Beryl didn't want us mutinying, so she sent the girl in black to shut Stephanie up without killing her. Not having to kill our victims will take a lot of the pressure off of us when we have to point our fingers at innocent girls, won't it?"

"I suppose I see your point," said Lina. "But that doesn't seem like the Beryl I know."

"It's not like you're old friends or anything," Ryoko pointed out. "Maybe we had Beryl figured wrong, and she's not such a bad gal after all."

Lina began to reply, but Ranma shushed her. "Listen," he said. "She's talking to someone. Sounds like she's angry."

Ryoko and Lina instantly fell silent. Indeed, Beryl's voice rang out loudly and clearly throughout the Negaverse. "What did you think you were doing?" she demanded. Ranma motioned for the others to follow him as he crept closer to the throne room and hid behind a column. From there, they could see the girl in black standing tall despite the fact that Beryl towered intimidatingly over her. "How dare you try to undermine my authority?" continued Beryl. "Consider yourself lucky that I still have a use for your powers... for the moment. But I would advise that you not disobey me again!"

The girl in black vanished without a word to Beryl. "Such impudence!" fumed Beryl. "No matter. She'll outlive her usefulness to me soon enough, and then I'll be rid of her."

"Something tells me now isn't the best time to make our report," whispered Ranma.

"Right," Lina whispered back. "Let's give her time to cool off and come back later."

"You don't have to tell me twice," said Ryoko. She vanished.

"Is someone there?" demanded Beryl. Ranma and Lina glanced at each other, then quickly backed away in tandem to hide in the darkness. Seeing no one, Beryl returned to her throne and sat down. "Chronite!" she called out.

"Yes, my Queen," said the general from beside the throne. As always, his entrance unnerved Beryl slightly, but she was growing used to his appearances and disappearances by now.

"Chronite, it appears that our plan is not proceeding as I had hoped."

"A tragedy, my Queen," agreed Chronite. "I thought it a brilliant plan myself."

"Indeed." Beryl scowled at her top general. He appeared to be sincere, but she knew better than to trust appearances where Chronite was concerned. She sniffed. "Very well. In any case, it may be time to take matters into our own hands. The Sailor Scouts must not escape alive again."

"I'm not sure that is wise, my Queen," Chronite argued guardedly. "However, there is an alternative. I can feel that Sailor Pluto has released a bit more of my power, which I can use to summon another warrior from a different universe."

"Get me someone who can fight, this time," she commanded him.

"At once, my Queen," said Chronite with a bow. "I will not disappoint you." He vanished.

"That remains to be seen," said Beryl to the empty room.

*************************************************

"Now, shall we discuss our plans?" asked Trista, once she and her companions had settled into their motel room.

"I'm still waiting to hear this brilliant no-fail plan of yours," said Amarah, while Michelle sat on the bed and arranged her skirt.

"I'm afraid what I have to say may disappoint you, then," said Trista. "It's far from being a no-fail plan."

"But I'm sure it's a good start," said Michelle. "Maybe Uranus and I can come up with ideas you hadn't thought of."

"It's quite likely," agreed Trista. "This is my plan. We must be sure to separate the Sailor Scouts from their enemies during their next battle so that we can fight without fear of being seen."

"But how can we convince them to leave?" asked Michelle. "They won't leave an innocent victim to suffer, even if their own lives are in danger."

"Then we must remove the victim," said Trista.

"You don't mean killing her, do you?" asked Amarah.

"If that's what it takes, then yes," replied Trista. "The lives of all humans, and the very fate of our universe, is at stake in this battle. If one girl has to die to protect all of that, then so be it. But we must try to get her away from the battle without killing her, if at all possible."

"Sounds good to me," said Amarah. "So, how do we do it?"

"I'm afraid I haven't figured that part out yet," Trista admitted.

"Then what good is this plan of yours, anyway?" asked Amarah.

"If we resort to killing the innocent girl, the plan will work," replied Trista. "There are times when you will be forced to make sacrifices for the greater good, including killing an innocent victim in cold blood. There was a time when you were perfectly willing to do that, wasn't there? When you were searching for Pure Heart Crystals...."

"I never really accepted it," said Michelle. "Even though I went along with the plan, I never felt that it was right."

"Looks like we're going to have to do it again," groaned Amarah.

"Please understand, I have tried to come up with a better solution," said Trista. "But I cannot. If you can think of a less costly solution, by all means, suggest it."

"Why don't we just disguise ourselves?" asked Amarah. "That way, we could do whatever we wanted, and the Sailor Scouts would be none the wiser."

"It's not quite that simple," replied Trista. "There's no way to hide the fact that we are Sailor Scouts, especially if we use our powers in the presence of the Inner Scouts. Remember, our Sailor Scout forms were created to disguise our human identities so that no one, not even other Sailor Scouts, can recognize us. Although that magic protects our vulnerable human forms, it would give us away as Sailor Scouts in an instant, regardless of how we might try to disguise ourselves."

"And what's so bad about that?" asked Amarah. "So the Inner Scouts know that there are other Sailor Scouts besides them. Is that really going to cause a paradox?"

"It might. I can't say for certain. However, there is a greater danger in being recognized as Sailor Scouts. If Luna or Artemis were to see us, it might jog their memories and remind them of how the Sailor Scouts can ascend to the next level of power."

"That's good, isn't it?" asked Amarah. "At least then they could defend themselves more capably."

"No!" shouted Trista. "Their bodies are not yet mature enough to handle that much power! The effort of trying to harness it would tear their bodies apart. That is why I blocked the memories of the cats... so that they would not remember how to call upon power that the Sailor Scouts were not ready to use."

"Even if they could handle the power," said Michelle, "it might be enough to let them beat Queen Beryl without sacrificing themselves."

"And that's bad?" asked Amarah.

"Very bad," said Trista. "The Sailor Scouts didn't reach their second level of power until after their rebirth. They had to learn of their true nature all over again, which is what delayed them from reaching that level before the aliens, Ann and Alan, invaded Earth. The aliens were unprepared for that level of power, which is what allowed the Sailor Scouts to defeat them. But, if they had known about that power..."

"I see," said Michelle. "So the Sailor Scouts' sacrifice was what kept their greater power hidden until the right time."

"Exactly," said Trista. 

"What if we wore the disguise in our human forms?" asked Michelle.

"Then we would be as helpless as the girl we were trying to save," replied Trista. 

"But at least there's a chance we could save her," Michelle pointed out.

"Under normal conditions, I would take that chance. But because our enemies are from another parallel dimension, it is far too dangerous to rely on chance."

"What? Why is that?"

"Because actors only have the capacity to create oblique dimensions while within their own parallel dimension."

Amarah sighed and sat in a chair. "I get the feeling I'm supposed to understand this, but I don't."

"Oblique dimensions are rather stochastic in nature... do you know anything about stochastic theory?"

"Math was never one of my better subjects," said Amarah. "That's Neptune's department."

"Well, picture a parallel dimension, a universe, as a tree. There's a solid trunk, and everything at that height on the tree is in the trunk. Everything in the tree depends on that trunk to bring nutrients up from the ground."

"Sounds like you're taking this analogy a bit too far, but go on."

"As the trunk rises, it splits into branches. Each of those branches is an oblique dimension. Each one of those branches forks again into other branches, although not quite as many as the trunk does."

"All right..."

"So imagine the span of a universe as building that tree from the ground up, rather than the normal way that a tree grows. You begin with the roots, the fundamental principles on which the universe is based. Then, the trunk is created, a starting point for all of the timelines. Then, the actors are created and begin to live their lives."

"Then they start making decisions, and branches start to grow," said Michelle.

"Not all decisions are important enough to create new branches," said Trista. "For example, the fate of the universe hardly hinges upon whether you decide to have rice or noodles for dinner tonight. However, when an important decision is reached, the tree branches, and each branch is identical at the start. Then, in each branch, the decision is made in a different way, and the results are played out in that oblique dimension."

"It all sounds deterministic to me," said Amarah. "All possibilities exist somewhere on the tree."

"But not all branches are equally strong," replied Michelle.

"Exactly. Each branch of the tree, each way of making the decision, is unique. Thus, they are not all equally likely. For example, suppose that you are both in a fight, and Sailor Neptune is knocked unconscious. She is about to be eaten by a hideous creature, but you're not sure that you can defeat it alone. Do you try to fight it anyway, or do you leave her to her fate and escape to find help?"

"I'd fight it, of course!" said Amarah.

"My hero," said Michelle with a smile.

"It is a decision that could change the fate of the universe, but it is far more likely that you would try to save her. So the branch representing the possibility that you leave her to die would be very thin. Thin branches rarely grow very large. Most of them become mere twigs, and many break off of the tree entirely. If a branch falls off of the tree, all of its subsidiary branches are destroyed."

"We're not talking about twigs here, are we?" asked Amarah. "We're talking about oblique dimensions. So are you saying that dimensions that aren't likely to happen are destroyed?"

"The actors responsible for the choice do what they can to reconcile their decision," said Trista. "That is the pang of regret you feel when making any choice. The universe is delving into your past, searching for any motivation that would lead you to the decision you made. If the decision cannot be reconciled, the oblique dimension is destroyed."

"So, what does this all have to do with the people from other universes?"

"They are like cells that are foreign to the tree. They can interact with the actors of this world, but cannot spawn new branches."

"Why not?" asked Michelle. "They're actors in this parallel universe, aren't they?"

"Yes, but they will presumably return to their own universe when their work here is done. Their timelines extend beyond the moment at which they were brought here. However, if they were allowed to exist in multiple oblique dimensions within this universe, there would be multiple copies of them returning to the same oblique dimension in their own universe. It would be like grafting a limb from another tree, letting it grow branches, then trying to reattach it to the original tree. The stump would not have grown, but the branch would have grown thicker and heavier... too thick to fit where it had been removed."

"And that would cause a paradox, right?" asked Amarah.

"No, the result of that would be far worse," said Trista. "But the framework of the universe prevents it from happening by ceasing production of new oblique dimensions that contain actors from another universe. So when they act, they can never create new oblique dimensions. They only destroy future possibilities."

"So if they kill us, the alternative where they don't kill us can't possibly exist!" realized Michelle.

"Precisely. Similarly, if they kill one of the Sailor Scouts, all branches that originate from her actions will be destroyed. Those are the branches from which I brought the two of you."

"But if we already exist in this time, what happens if the future we came from is wiped out?" asked Amarah.

"Remember, the roots of the tree are the fundamental principles on which a universe is based," said Trista. "If one of those principles is violated, such as the existence of actors who cannot exist within the laws of the universe... those roots are destroyed. The entire tree is uprooted. And in falling, it often takes other trees with it."

"I don't like this analogy any more!" said Amarah. "Are you saying that the entire universe could be destroyed just because you brought us here to save the Crystal Millennium?"

"That's not entirely true," replied Trista. "The universe was in just as much danger before your arrival."

"So, there's someone else here from the future?" asked Michelle.

"Knowledge is power," whispered Trista. "I may have already said too much. The more known, the more fuel for the fire that will burn this tree to the ground."

"But we have to know what we're fighting!" protested Michelle.

"I know little more than you do!" shouted Trista. "Don't you understand? I am the Guardian of Time! I know all possibilities past, present, and future... but the future of this timeline is clouded. I can no longer see the future while I am in this timeline." A tear fell from her eye. "You can't possibly understand what it's like. Imagine suddenly not being able to see more than five feet away from you. Everything beyond that, in every direction, is totally black."

"Oh god... I had no idea," said Michelle.

"Normally, I can see what effect my actions will have. If something is completely out of place, I can act to repair the damage to the timeline. But now... the future is black."

Amarah hummed. "Well, we've still got to do whatever we can to make the most of that black future. So let's get back to the plan."

"Yes," said Trista. "The universe can be saved, or else we would all have been obliterated by now. The question is, how? Is it even something within our power to do?"

"I suppose there's only one way to find out," said Amarah.

Michelle nodded. "We'll have to do whatever we can and see what happens."

Trista sat down heavily on the bed and rested her head in her hands. "Pluto... are you feeling okay?" asked Michelle.

"It's just a headache," replied Trista. "The thought of not knowing what effect my actions will have... it's just difficult for me. I'll manage, somehow."

"As long as you don't lose it in battle," said Amarah. "So, what's our plan for saving the girl?"

"I think what Pluto said has given me an idea," said Michelle. "You and I can go in wearing disguises over our ordinary clothes and rescue the girl while Pluto distracts the enemies and gets rid of the Inner Scouts. Then we activate our Sailor Scout powers and take them on."

"It sounds like a good plan," said Trista. "But wouldn't it be better for only me to rescue the girl while the two of you provide a distraction?"

"You're the one who has the best idea of how much we can do without causing a paradox," replied Michelle. "Uranus and I work well enough together that we should be able to handle ourselves, even without our powers. All you need to do is convince the Inner Scouts to leave the fighting to us."

Trista hummed her assent and lowered her head. "So many possibilities... and only one will come to pass now."

"Don't feel bad, Pluto," said Michelle comfortingly. "We're going to win this battle. Even if you don't have the certainty of being able to see the future, you can still have faith."

Trista nodded. "It is faith above all that determines the fate of a universe. Enough faith can make even the least likely possibility give rise to a stable timeline, and the most certain events can fail if there is no faith in them. So, let us have faith in our abilities and prepare for the battle ahead."

"We've got to eat before they decide to attack again," said Amarah, reaching for the phone. "What should we order?"

"I don't think it will matter that much," said Michelle. "After all, it's not like the fate of the universe depends on it." She started to laugh at her own joke, and Amarah quickly joined in. Even solemn Trista smiled and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"No," she said to herself. "The fate of the universe depends solely on us now."

*************************************************

Lina and Ranma walked in silence through the Negaverse, neither able to summon the courage to speak. Her right hand gripped his left tightly, and his own grip was no less firm. Lina looked over her shoulder from time to time, as if expecting Beryl to sneak up from behind and demand an explanation for her failure. Ranma just squeezed her hand reassuringly each time, reminding her that she wasn't alone in dealing with her problems.

It was during one of these shoulder checks that Ranma drew to a sharp halt. Lina turned to stare questioningly at him, but his eyes were fixed on the crystal before him. She examined the short-haired girl within the crystal. "A friend of yours?" she asked quietly. Ranma nodded. "Who is she?"

"Her name's Akane," said Ranma. "Akane Tendo."

Lina watched a tear fall from Ranma's eye. "You must really care about her, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess," said Ranma.

Lina sighed. "You could sure fool me. Talk about Mr. Enthusiasm..."

Ranma sat down and cradled his head in his arms. "Back in my world, we're engaged to be married. But our fathers arranged it all. We spend all of our time fighting and arguing."

"But you don't really mean it, do you?" asked Lina, sitting beside him. "Even through all the yelling and fighting, you still can't stand the thought of being without her, can you?"

"It sounds kinda crazy, doesn't it?"

Lina gazed off to the side, where the crystal that held Gourry Gabriev hung suspended in space. "No, I don't think it sounds crazy at all."

Ranma chuckled. "You haven't heard the half of it. She's not the only one I'm engaged to."

Lina's brow furrowed. "You're in love with a different girl?"

"My pops would engage me to anyone whose father had some money, or food, or a dojo that he could try to gain out of the marriage. Then he'd steal the dowry and run off, blaming the whole thing on me."

"Sounds like quite a guy," said Lina sarcastically. "So, how many fiancées did you end up with?"

"I don't think even he knows for sure," replied Ranma. "There are more girls fighting over me in my world than we've been fighting in this world... Some of them I'd consider friends; some rivals; and some..." He looked up at Akane. "I don't think I could put those feelings into words. I don't even know what love is anymore. Any of those relationships could be love, and I wouldn't know it from the way I feel about any other girl."

"I bet turning into a girl yourself doesn't help."

"To say the least." Ranma sighed. "Why am I telling you all of this, anyway? Here I am, pouring my heart out to a total stranger..."

"It's a tough time for both of us," said Lina, wrapping her arm around his shoulders. Ranma shuddered slightly, but didn't push her away. "We're being forced to kill innocent girls to save the ones we – have undefinable feelings for. If we can't trust each other... we'll be alone."

Ranma nodded. "Yeah, I see what you mean."

Lina quickly pulled her arm back. "Hey, don't get me wrong! You're probably a really nice guy, but... well, I..."

"I know." Ranma looked back to Akane's crystal. "So... tell me about him."

"Who?" asked Lina naively. "Oh, right. You mean the guy in my crystal." She leaned back and stared into what passed for a sky. "His name's Gourry Gabriev. I met him not too long ago, just before I fought the Monster Lord Shabranigdo. He thought I was a little girl until he saw my magic. And I thought he was a klutz until I saw the way he fought with the Sword of Light."

"Akane thought I was a real girl when we first met," said Ranma. "That's the last time she actually treated me as an equal. Ever since then, nothing I can do is good enough for her."

"And what about all of those other girls?" asked Lina.

"They all have their own problems," replied Ranma. "I don't think there's a normal girl in my life. My mother's pretty normal, but if she ever found out that I was cursed, she'd force me to kill myself."

"And that's normal?"

"More normal than most."

"Geez, you must lead an interesting life."

"Is yours any less interesting?"

Lina laughed. "I can't say that it isn't. I get to fight all sorts of monsters and steal treasures from bandits..."

"Man, that sounds like fun. All I get to do is fight people all the time. Just about everyone in my world seems to want to kill me."

"Except all those fiancées of yours?" asked Lina.

"Even some of them."

"Yikes! That must keep you on your toes!"

"I'm a martial artist," replied Ranma. "Pops would say it's all part of my training." He turned to Lina. "You know, you don't seem like the type of person who'd want to kill anyone..."

"Is that supposed to be a pick-up line?"

Ranma shook his head. "I was just wondering... how do you work up the nerve to kill someone?"

Lina slowly edged away from Ranma. "What kind of question is that?"

Ranma sighed. "I saw you attacking the Sailor Scouts just before Ryoko and I showed up. But you really don't seem like the violent type. So... how do you do it?"

"Why are you asking me?" asked Lina. "Why not ask Ryoko? She seems to be pretty good at it."

"That's exactly why I can't ask her," replied Ranma. "She's probably used to killing by now. I expect she does a lot of that as a space pirate. I need to know how someone like you, who doesn't kill a lot of innocent people, can do it."

"It's not something I'm proud of," said Lina. "Why do you want to know?"

"Because I think I know who Sailor Jupiter is. She invited me over tonight to spar with her, and if her style is the same as Sailor Jupiter's, I'll know it's her. If not, the innocent girl won't know anything about us, and we won't have to hurt her at all."

Lina's eyes widened. "That's a great idea! But how can you be so sure?"

"I can tell," replied Ranma. "I've fought enough opponents to be able to distinguish their styles. Sailor Jupiter fights about as well as Akane does, but she likes to lead more with her right arm and keeps her stance a little narrower. Those little differences are enough for a martial artist with my level of skill to distinguish one opponent from another."

"Wow," said Lina, impressed. "I never thought of that. I wonder if I could learn to identify my opponents based on their level of magic use. Not that I have any problems with opponents in disguise..."

"But identifying Sailor Jupiter is only half of the battle," said Ranma. "If Lita does turn out to be Sailor Jupiter, I'll have to kill her. I'm no more ready to do that than I'm sure you were to attack Stephanie. So... how do you do it?"

Lina sighed. "Well... it's not easy. You've basically got to lose your mind. You have to force yourself to hate your target so much that you forget you're looking at a human being. You've got to let your rage take over. Just keep telling yourself that the world will be better off without them, and you're doing the world a favor by killing them. Then, when the critical moment comes, just before you let them have it, if you start to lose your focus..." She looked up at Akane's crystal. "... just remember why you're really doing it."

The air grew quiet as Lina let her words hang in the air. It took her a few seconds to realize that Ranma was no longer breathing. She turned back to him to see him staring back at her through wide eyes. "Hey, are you okay?" she asked, waving her hand in front of his face.

Ranma shook his head to clear it. "You've done it before, haven't you?"

"Done what? Killed someone? Plenty of times. Like I said, there were monsters and bandits –"

"No, I'm talking about innocent people. There was something... familiar about the way you described how you did it, like it wasn't just the one time."

Lina closed her eyes. "I don't really want to talk about it right now."

"I don't blame you," said Ranma. "I wouldn't want to talk about it either."

"So, you've never killed anyone?" asked Lina.

Ranma smirked. "I don't really want to talk about it right now."

"Wipe that silly grin off your face," snapped Lina. "It's not funny."

Ranma did so. "Sorry. I didn't realize it was a sensitive subject for you."

"You don't understand anything, do you?" Lina stood up. "I can't believe you're such a jerk!"

"Huh?" Ranma looked up at Akane. "Did you two switch minds or something?"

"Don't you dare look away from me!" shouted Lina. "I don't know what I ever saw in you! You make me sick! Why don't you just drop dead?"

"You're scaring me, Lina," said Ranma, backing away.

"You should be scared," replied Lina. "You're completely worthless. You don't deserve to live." A fireball appeared in her hand.

"Queen Beryl said we're not supposed to fight!" protested Ranma.

"I don't care! My stomach churns at the mere thought of you! The only thing that matters to me now is killing you and making the world a better place!"

Ranma leapt to his feet and raised his hands in defense. "Calm down! I don't want to fight you!"

"That's exactly why I do want to fight!" Lina aimed the fireball at Ranma. "Now, DIE!" Ranma shut his eyes and waited for the end. When it didn't come, he opened his eyes again. Lina smiled. "Then you let them have it. The key is to surprise them if you can. If they don't expect it, it will be easier to kill them. Got it?" Ranma nodded slowly. "Great! Just remember what I showed you and you'll be fine. Good luck with Sailor Jupiter!" Lina turned and walked into the darkness.

Ranma sat down heavily and began to breathe again. "I know I asked for it, but... did she have to demonstrate her technique on me?"

*************************************************

Serena closed her workbook in disgust. "I just can't take it anymore! We're fighting new enemies that are way too powerful for us, we have absolutely no idea how to beat them, and to top it all off, even if we do manage to beat them, I'm going to fail!"

Amy sighed. "Serena, we're never going to make any progress in either of those areas if we give up. Now, why don't we try Science again?"

"I don't see how you can concentrate on homework at a time like this," said Mina. "Grades aren't going to do us much good if we're dead."

"Yeah," agreed Lita. "Have you come up with a plan yet?"

"I'm afraid not," Amy admitted. "Although I hate to admit it, our powers simply aren't going to be enough. We're used to fighting one opponent at a time, and now we're facing four that are more powerful than any of the ones we've fought before."

"But our powers do work on them," Raye pointed out. "I even managed to hit the spiky-haired one with my fire when she was distracted."

"Hitting them is fine," said Mina, "but we just aren't causing any damage at all. It's like we weren't even trying."

"She's right," said Lita. "All the distractions in the world aren't going to help us if we can't get some more firepower."

"Luna and Artemis are working on that," said Amy. "In the meantime, we're going to have to make the best use we can out of the powers we have."

"What I want to know," said Lita, "is who helped us in that battle. We've got powerful allies. If we can figure out who they are, we might be able to work with them."

"If they wanted us to know who they are," said Raye, "they would have told us. As it is, I have a feeling that we can neither trust them nor depend on them."

"Well, there goes our best hope," said Mina. "I was counting on our invisible allies to pull us out of this one. What else can we possibly do?"

"We can't depend on the cats to help us find greater power, or on the powers we have now, or on outside help," summarized Amy. "I'm afraid there isn't anything else that can help us."

"Wait, that's it!" shouted Lita. "The cats!"

"What are you talking about, Lita?" asked Serena. "Amy just said we can't depend on the cats."

"I'm not talking about reaching our next level of power," replied Lita. "The one I was fighting, that boy... he was afraid of Artemis!"

"That's nothing special," said Mina. "I think anyone would get a little freaked at the idea of a talking cat."

"It wasn't the fact that Artemis talked," said Lita. "He said, and I quote, 'Is that a c-c-cat?'"

"I suppose it's possible," said Amy pensively. "Ailurophobia is a well-documented condition."

"What-o-phobia?" asked Serena.

"It means a fear of cats," explained Amy. "We'll have to invite Luna and Artemis to the next battle and see if that theory is true."

"And what if it is?" asked Raye. "How are we going to use that fear to our advantage?"

"Distraction tactics," replied Mina. "Luna and Artemis can keep him busy while the rest of us fight off the other two."

"Okay... I think I see the problem with this plan. That still leaves two of them for the rest of us to fight. And the two girls seemed to be the powerful ones. Assuming that black girl doesn't show up again..."

"I have an idea," said Serena, staring dejectedly at her workbook. "We can force them to do homework until their brains explode."

"Can't you take this seriously?" shouted Lita. "We're talking about life and death here!"

"Well, MY brain is about to explode," said Serena.

"I never thought I'd say this," said Mina, "but Serena... get your head out of that book! We're trying to figure out how to beat our new enemies, or is science really so fascinating that you'd rather read than survive?"

"Who knows?" asked Amy. "Perhaps the power of science will suggest something that we haven't thought of."

"Serena's chemistry experiments always blow up in the science lab," said Lita. "Maybe she can cook us up a bomb or something."

"The Sailor Scouts don't fight that way," said Raye. "We're defenders of truth and love, not mercenaries."

"But if it's the only way to fight..."

"I think explosives would be too dangerous," said Amy. "Innocent people could get hurt in the explosion, and so could we."

"We're going in circles!" shouted Raye. "Every time anyone comes up with an idea, it's too dangerous, or we can't trust it, or it's not good enough!"

"You were the one who said the cats wouldn't be a help," Serena pointed out.

"Thank you, meatball-head," said Raye, giving Serena a noogie. "The point is, we've come up with fifty plans that don't work. Can't we just put them all together and come up with a single plan that will work?"

"We certainly do have quite a large number of ideas," agreed Amy. "I only wish I had the time to come up with a plan that used them..."

"What could possibly be more important than coming up with a plan to save our lives?" asked Mina.

"Algebra," admitted Amy. She immediately shrank under four scathing glares. "All right! All right! My grades may slip, but I'll start working on a plan right away!"

"Your grades will never slip," said Lita. "I don't see what you're so worried about. You probably don't even need to study."

"On the contrary," replied Amy, "it's because I study so much that I do so well in school."

"I suppose that makes sense," said Serena. "On the other hand, I do bad no matter how hard I study."

"Badly," corrected Amy. "Studying is an important part of education. It's like athletes consistently practicing their sport, or a martial artist training daily. Right, Lita?"

"Training! Shoot, I nearly forgot!" Lita searched the walls. "Raye, don't you have a clock in here? What time is it?"

"It's a quarter to eight," replied Mina. "Why?"

"I'm supposed to meet Ranko at eight!" She grabbed her gym bag and bolted out the door.

"Who's Ranko?" asked Mina.

"She's a new girl at school," replied Amy. "She just transferred in today."

"Really?" said Mina. "We got a new girl at our school too!"

"What are you two thinking?" asked Serena. "That there's some kind of connection?"

Raye shrugged. "It does seem a bit suspicious. Does one of them have long red hair and the other white spiky hair?"

"She's got red hair," said Mina and Amy together. They looked at each other and laughed.

"I guess we were leaping to conclusions," said Amy. "It's just a coincidence."

"Why can't my answers ever be right by coincidence?" whined Serena. "No, all the good coincidences are wasted on new students!"

"That's why you have to study harder," said Amy. "Look, it's quite simple. Photosynthesis –"

Raye cleared her throat. "Amy, the plan? I don't think photosynthesis is going help us beat our enemies."

Amy put her finger to her lips. "True. But it does help plants make food from sunlight."

"If plant food will give us more power, I'm all for it," said Raye. "Otherwise, let's focus on our plan, shall we?"

Mina sighed. "Lita's so lucky. She gets to do that calming Zen fighting thing while we wrack our brains to come up with a plan."

"What calming Zen fighting thing?" asked Serena.

"You know... 'Clear your mind of all distractions, grasshopper.' What I wouldn't give to be able to do that right now..."

"It does sound relaxing," agreed Amy.

"Hey, what say we go pay Lita a little visit?" suggested Raye. "We could probably all use the break from studying, and we might get some ideas from watching the fight."

"Sounds good to me," said Serena. "A lot more fun than photosynthesis any day."

"There are only a few places she might have gone," said Mina. "It shouldn't take us too long to find her."

"But what about our homework?" asked Amy.

"AMY!" shouted the other three.

Amy blushed. "Sorry. I meant to say, 'Let's go find Lita.'"

"That's what I thought," said Raye.

*************************************************

"It's time," said Ranma. He poured the canteen of cold water on his head and tucked the thermos into her gym bag for safekeeping. "Lita... I sure hope you're not Sailor Jupiter. For your sake."

  



	6. 5: The Fight of Lita's Life

A General Time Paradox

Chapter 5: The Fight of Lita's Life

Lita's lungs began to ache as she ran to the appointed place. "Dammit, why does Raye have to live so far from civilization? I'm going to be dead tired before the match!" However fatigued she was, Lita kept running, determined not to make a bad impression on Ranko by being late.

Shortly after eight, she arrived at the dojo. Ranko was already there, leaning against the outer wall. Curiously enough, she was standing on her head. "Sorry I'm late," Lita apologized. "I lost track of the time."

"That's okay," said Ranko. "I was a little late myself. Just got here." She flipped easily to her feet. "Need a few minutes to catch your breath before we go inside?"

"I'll be okay," Lita assured her. "We should probably get changed before sparring anyway."

"Sure thing. I was just offering." Ranko held the door open. "After you."

Lita led the way in and pointed to a cubicle at the near end of the dojo. "That's the changing room."

"You can change first," offered Ranko.

"Why don't we just get changed at the same time? There's plenty of room for two."

Ranko blushed. "Well, it's not really... I mean... okay, whatever." She shrugged and made her way to the changing room.

"Poor girl," said Lita to herself. "She must be shy around new people." She joined Ranko in the cubicle and began to undress. Even though she wanted to respect Ranko's privacy, she couldn't help but notice that Ranko studiously avoided looking at her while she changed. When Ranko's shirt came off, she got an even bigger surprise. "Don't you wear a bra?"

Ranko reflexively turned to Lita, flashing her ample bare chest for a brief moment before noticing Lita's state of undress and turning back. "They never feel comfortable. It's kind of embarrassing..."

"I understand," said Lita. "I was just concerned. Without support, your chest might get in the way during the match. And you tire more quickly because of the excess movement."

"It's okay, really. I'm used to fighting this way." Ranko slid off her pants, exposing a pair of yellow boxer shorts with blue stripes down the sides. Lita restrained her comment.

'It seems strange,' Lita thought to herself, 'but now that I think about it... Ranko dresses like a boy!' She filed the thought for future consideration and donned her uniform. As she finished tying the belt around her gi, Ranko left the cubicle. Lita's eyes fell to Ranko's gym bag. Her outer clothes had been hastily thrown on top of it, but they still revealed the outline of an object within. Lita's curiosity got the better of her, and she reached into the bag to see what it was. Her hand met a cylinder, and she groped at it until she found a tiny handle near the top. 'A thermos... must be an energy drink or something. I should have thought to bring some for myself.'

Feeling slightly ashamed for her prying, Lita adjusted her uniform and stepped out of the cubicle, just in time to hear Ranko complaining to herself. "Yep. Girls definitely take longer to get changed." Lita nearly asked what she meant by that, but caught herself. Ranko looked up from her stretching. "There you are. Hurry up and stretch, unless you want to be here all night."

Lita sat down and began to work her leg muscles. "Say... how often do you practice?"

Ranko paused mid-stretch. "I guess you could say my whole life is devoted to martial arts. I couldn't get away from the Art if I wanted to."

"Well, you don't practice while you're in school, do you?"

"I don't spend much time in school," said Ranko. "That's why I'm not doing so well in class. I've been mostly home-schooled, and most of that was training."

"So, why are you going to school now?"

Ranko sighed. "Pops says it's important for a young... lady like me to know a few things, even if it takes time away from my training. You know how dads can be."

Lita stiffened visibly. "I wouldn't know," she said coldly. "I don't have a father."

"Huh? How could that happen? You mean he's dead?"

"It happened when I was still young. I don't remember much about him, really. He used to run this dojo, when he was alive. That's why I take my martial arts so seriously. I feel like if I train really hard to be the best martial artist I can be, I might be able to follow in his footsteps and make him proud of me."

"So... you train because you think it'll make your father happy?" asked Ranko. "That makes two of us."

"You're right! Maybe we have more in common than we thought!"

Ranko shook her head before starting on her neck stretches. "Nah. We're probably worlds apart."

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Lita.

"Hey, no offense meant. I just think we're two completely different people. Nothing wrong with that, is there?"

Lita shook her head. 'She talks like a boy, too,' she thought. Aloud, she asked, "Finished stretching yet?"

"I'm ready when you are," replied Ranko.

The two girls made their way to the center of the dojo and faced each other. They bowed, then took their fighting stances. 'Well, the stance is right,' thought Ranko. 'Now, to check out those Judo counters and analyze her defense.'

She stepped forward, and the match began in earnest. Ranko led with a series of kicks, which Lita blocked until she could grab one of Ranko's legs and sweep the other one off the floor. Ranko landed on her back and rolled backwards into a standing position.

"That was a pretty nice recovery," said Lita.

"Knowing how to get up is as important as knowing how not to get knocked down," replied Ranko. "I told you, my whole life has been devoted to martial arts."

"I'm beginning to understand what you mean!" Lita feinted, then charged forward with a flurry of punches. Ranko easily dodged every one, watching Lita shift her balance with every punch. Finally, Ranko bent over backwards to plant her hands on the floor, grabbed one of Lita's arms between her feet, and rolled onto her stomach, swinging Lita over her body to land on her back on the dojo floor.

Ranko smoothly rolled to her feet, while Lita's recovery was more of a flip. "Not bad," said Ranko, truly impressed. "Most people wouldn't be able to get up after a move like that."

"I'm a lot tougher than most people," said Lita.

Ranko didn't reply. The fight continued, but Ranko could no longer put her heart into it, summoning barely enough will to avoid Lita's attacks. As the fight progressed, the suspicion she prayed would be false was further and further proven, until there was no longer any doubt. By the time she summoned her voice to excuse herself, there was only one thought passing through her mind, which she nearly blurted out right then and there: 'Of course you're tougher than most people. You're Sailor Jupiter.' 

*************************************************

The darkness shifted, expelling a red-haired man and a large crystal. "I have returned, my Queen," announced Chronite with a bow.

Beryl stepped down off of her throne. "Excellent. I trust you succeeded, then?"

"Indeed, my Queen. Our new ally is on his way to assist the fight as we speak."

"And who is this?" she asked, peering into the crystal. The girl's auburn hair arced upwards, blown by a timeless wind at the moment of her capture. Her face was locked in an expression of shock that was all too familiar to Beryl by now, tinted blue by the glow coming from her chest that shone through the shirt. Her hands were on her skirt, in a vain attempt to hold it down in the same wind that had blown her hair, but the back of the skirt was still raised above her waist, revealing a pair of white panties with a picture of a giraffe. "I suppose she might have some appeal to a human."

"He does not love her yet, my Queen," said Chronite. "That affection would have come in time, but with it, he grows soft."

"Then what use is she to him?" asked Beryl. "Why would he be willing to fight for her life?"

"Her death will destroy an entire race of creatures that seek to devastate his world... but only if she dies in that world. If she dies here, his cause will be lost."

"Hmmm... interesting. I hope you know what you're doing."

"All too well, my Queen," replied Chronite. He bowed once again and vanished.

Beryl frowned at the crystal. "I don't like the tone of his voice. If I didn't know better – and perhaps I truly don't – I'd swear he was plotting against me. Without any better recourse, I have no choice but to put up with him... for now. But all I need is one excuse, and I'll crush him like a bug!"

She spun around suddenly. "What are you still doing here?" she demanded. The girl in black didn't respond. "Get out there and prove your worth to me! This is your only chance to make up for your failure!" The girl in black nodded and vanished. "Honestly, good help is impossible to find these days! No wonder my invasion has fared so poorly..."

*************************************************

Lita dressed slowly, deep in thought about the evening's events. Ranko hadn't said a word after the single throw, and she hadn't even seemed to be paying attention to the fight; yet Lita still couldn't touch her after that. It was as if Ranko's mind was in another world, leaving her reflexes in charge of the fight. When Ranko had finally spoken, it had been to excuse herself for a previous engagement. She had packed her bag and left, still in her uniform. "I guess she didn't want to share the changing room with me again," said Lita. "I feel sorry for her. It must be tough spending so much time practicing martial arts that you don't have any time for friends. I wish I could invite her to Study Buddies..."

Lita looked up to find herself outside in her street clothes. She'd been so lost in her introspection that she'd mechanically dressed herself and left the dojo without even noticing it. "That's weird," she said aloud. "Why am I thinking so hard about Ranko? Do I care that much about her?"

A shadowed figure stepped out of a nearby alley. "Better watch where you're going, Lita. You never know who you might bump into."

Lita immediately dropped into her fighting stance. "Who's there?" she asked.

"Don't you remember me?" asked the figure. It stepped out of the shadows, revealing itself as the boy whom she'd fought with earlier that day. Lita gasped, but quickly regained her composure.

'I can't let him know that I recognize him!' thought Lita. That thought was immediately followed by, 'I hope Ranko got far enough away that she won't get involved!' Aloud, she merely repeated her question. "Who are you, and what do you want with me?"

"I'm Ranma Saotome," said the boy. "And I'm here to kill you."

Lita's entire body tensed up despite her attempts to remain calm. "Somebody help!" she shouted. "This guy's trying to kill me!"

"Nobody's going to help you," said Ranma. "I know how this world works. Innocent people have better things to do than get involved in battles, and by the time your friends get here, you'll be long dead. There's only one thing you can do to save yourself: transform into Sailor Jupiter."

"What?" Lita was so shocked that she completely forgot to feign innocence. Fortunately, she was also too shocked to give anything away.

Ranma's features darkened, and he almost seemed to be worried about something. "Look, I don't have time to mess around. My partners are going to be here any minute, and they won't hesitate to kill you no matter what form you're in. But I'm not like them. I won't kill a helpless girl, even to save my fiancée."

"Save your fiancée? What do you mean?"

"I told you, I don't have time for this!" shouted Ranma. "Transform so we can fight fairly before the others get here!"

"I... I don't... I mean..." stammered Lita, not sure whether to admit the truth or try to escape.

Ranma brought his hands together in front of his body, and a ball of light began to grow between them. "This is your last warning! Transform now, or I'll kill you as you are!"

Lita's breath caught in her throat. He seemed determined to kill her whether or not she transformed, and she couldn't see any way to escape. If he was giving her the chance to transform, she would have to take it. She grabbed her transformation wand and held it aloft. "JUPITER POWER!"

*************************************************

Trista gasped, causing her to choke on the noodles that were halfway down her throat. Amarah leapt out of her seat and pounded Trista on the back. "Come on! Cough it up!"

Trista's lungs heaved, and she spat out the half-eaten glob of noodles onto the table. "Are you okay, Pluto?" asked Michelle.

"What's wrong?" asked Amarah. "You looked like you'd seen a ghost!"

Trista leaned heavily on the table. "I'm fine... I just felt a surge of energy. One of the Inner Scouts is transforming."

"They're attacking!" said Michelle. "We have to go! Pluto, can you make it?"

"I'm fine," repeated Trista. "I just need to catch my breath."

"Okay," said Amarah. "You transform, while Neptune and I get our disguises on. If they've already transformed, we haven't got much time."

"What about the others?" asked Michelle. "Are the other Scouts transforming as well?"

Trista shook her head. "No. Only one of them has transformed."

"Why does that matter?" asked Amarah.

"Nothing," said Michelle. "It probably doesn't matter. What does matter is that we get there in time to save them."

"Exactly," agreed Trista, taking up her transformation wand. "Let us pray that we're not already too late."

*************************************************

Ranma watched as Lita's body became a glowing mass, as if her silhouette were a window into a world of white light. Her clothes vanished, and a white leotard appeared to take their place. Traces of light worked their way up her feet and ankles, turning into a pair of green boots. Lita spun around, and a green strip of cloth followed her movement, becoming a skirt around her waist. A pink bow sprouted from the fabric on her chest, and a golden tiara crossed her forehead. When she opened her eyes, the color returned to the bare flesh that remained – which was quite a large portion of her body – and Ranma found himself face to face with Sailor Jupiter. Even having watched the transformation, Ranma found it hard to tell that the face staring at him belonged to Lita, but he did notice a few similarities. "That's some strong transformation magic," he whispered to himself.

Sailor Jupiter pointed a finger at Ranma. "That's right! I am Sailor Jupiter, and I fight for truth and justice! You attack innocent girls, and for that, I will punish you in the name of the planet Jupiter!"

"I just got through telling you that I DON'T want to have to kill an innocent girl," said Ranma. "But now that you've finally changed, I don't have to hold back!"

"You'd better not underestimate me," warned Jupiter.

"Trust me, you couldn't beat me with twice the power you've got," said Ranma. "You're a disgrace to the martial arts!"

Sailor Jupiter blanched. "Hey, that's not fair! You said we were going to fight!"

"You should consider yourself lucky that I'm giving you these extra few seconds to live," said Ranma. "Not that you deserve them. I'm surprised you lasted this long, with those pathetic skills of yours."

Sailor Jupiter growled. "If you're trying to intimidate me, it's not working! Are we going to fight or not?"

"My father once told me that only the strong can survive. The weak must be weeded out. I've never really trusted my father's judgment... but it seems that he may have had a point. Now, it's your turn to be mowed down like the weed you are... for Akane's sake."

Sailor Jupiter took a step back. "What are you saying? I don't understand!"

"Please forgive me, Lita!" shouted Ranma as he charged forward. "I'm doing this for Akane!" Jupiter did her best to block, but Ranma's combo was too fast for her. His hands and feet pummeled her from head to toe, knocking her onto her back. Ranma leapt onto her stomach and raised his fist above his head for the killing blow. "That was too easy. You weren't even worth the trouble."

Before Ranma could land the fatal punch, Jupiter swung her legs upward mightily with a shout of "Don't count me out of this yet!" dislodging Ranma from his perch. Ranma landed on his feet, and Jupiter got to hers equally quickly. "JUPITER THUNDER CRASH!"

Ranma leapt into the air to avoid Jupiter's lightning attack, aiming his foot at her head as he landed. Jupiter crossed her arms in front of her face to block the kick, but the impact still nearly knocked her off balance. She knew there'd be at least one bruise on her forearms from that blow. Before she could dwell on the pain, however, Ranma was attacking her again. As before, Jupiter blocked as best she could, but the blows came too quickly for her to avoid them all. Jupiter swallowed hard as she realized that not only had Ranma been holding back during their previous encounter, he'd probably been suppressing his combat reflexes to avoid hurting her, although she couldn't fathom the reason for that.

Blocking was useless; Jupiter had no choice but to counterattack. She took a step back and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "JUPITER TH-" Ranma's fist smashed her nose, cutting her attack short. Jupiter decided to switch tacks and kicked at Ranma, who turned her leg aside without even pausing in his attack. Jupiter nearly lost her balance, but kept her footing until a lucky kick pounded her kneecap, sending her to the ground again.

Ranma's foot pressed down on Jupiter's chest. "Just give up," said Ranma. "You're not going to get anywhere by fighting me, you know. I gave you your chance, and you blew it." Jupiter strained to move, but her knee felt as if it would shatter if she tried to move it. Ranma clenched his fist. "I hate you! You deserve to die!" His fist came crashing down, and Jupiter could do nothing more than shut her eyes and wait for the end.

Ranma's knuckles pounded the pavement beside Jupiter's head, gouging a rut in the sidewalk. "How the hell did she do it? I just can't..." He stood up again and pointed an accusing finger at Jupiter. "It's your fault! You're the one who's making me fail! Why can't you fight back properly so I can kill you in self-defense?" The pavement on the other side of Jupiter's head was punched into a crater. "Why do you have to be so innocent and useless?" Jupiter opened her eyes to see Ranma's expression darken. "That's it! That's why you have to die!" He raised his fist one final time. "This time..."

A red rose embedded its stem into the back of Ranma's hand. "OW!" He tore the rose from his flesh and glared up at his attacker, perched on a nearby roof. "It's the freak in the mask!"

"That's Tuxedo Mask to you, evildoer!" said Tuxedo Mask. "The only freak here is a fighter who would turn his skills against a defenseless girl."

"I don't think that's any of your business, pal," returned Ranma. "You'd better get out of here before I have to kill you, too."

"You won't be killing anyone today!" shouted Tuxedo Mask. He pointed his cane at Ranma, and the tip extended toward Ranma's head at blinding speed.

Ranma caught the shaft as it neared his head and diverted it to smash harmlessly into the ground, then jerked the cane out of Tuxedo Mask's hand. "If you want to fight me, you're only throwing your life away. I came here to fight Sailor Jupiter, and then I'll be gone."

"If you oppose the Sailor Scouts, then you'll have to fight your way through me!" Tuxedo Mask leapt from the rooftop, hurling more than a dozen roses at Ranma. Ranma leapt away just in time to dodge the flowers. Jupiter screamed in pain as one of them stabbed her injured leg, while the rest missed any living target completely.

"Hey, nice throw!" taunted Ranma. "You managed to hit the girl you're trying to protect!"

Tuxedo Mask knelt beside Jupiter. "Sailor Jupiter! I'm so sorry! Are you okay?"

"I don't think I can stand up," said Jupiter. "But I'll survive."

"He's pretty fast," said Tuxedo Mask. "I'll keep him away from you for as long as I can."

"Be careful," warned Jupiter. "He's inhumanly powerful..."

"I'd listen to her if I were you," said Ranma. "You don't have a chance of beating me."

"That's where you're wrong!" shouted Tuxedo Mask. "Good will always triumph over evil!"

"Believe in the power of good all you want," replied Ranma, "but there are some enemies that you can't beat no matter how hard you fight." He pictured the crystallized Akane in his mind, and a wave of rage shot through him. He charged, directing it all at Tuxedo Mask. Tuxedo Mask spun around the front of the attack and planted a foot in Ranma's side.

'I'm getting sloppy,' Ranma thought to himself as he fell. 'I've got to focus. Cool down my thoughts...' He let Tuxedo Mask press his attack, slowly backing away as he blocked and dodged the best moves his opponent had to offer. Ranma moved slowly to the side as he retreated, drawing the path of his retreat into an arc, which became a circle, and then began to spiral inward...

*************************************************

"There they are!" said Amarah, peering out of the alley at the action across the street. "It looks like that boy we saw earlier is fighting Tuxedo Mask."

"Sailor Jupiter's there too," announced Michelle. "The others haven't made it here yet."

"Good," said Pluto. "Then we shouldn't have much trouble luring our enemy away where we can fight him without fear of causing a paradox."

Amarah shook her head. "This isn't right. There's something missing here..."

"Missing?" asked Pluto. "What could be missing?"

"The victim!" realized Michelle. "There's no victim!"

"No," said Amarah. "Sailor Jupiter is the victim. Think about it. The girl who was attacked earlier today looked like Sailor Mars, and now Sailor Jupiter's the only girl in sight. They're trying to find the true identities of the Sailor Scouts, and this time they're on target!"

"Then there is no innocent victim," said Pluto. "But it doesn't look like Jupiter will be able to escape on her own."

"Then we have to help her!" said Michelle.

"What are we going to do, shoot from the sidelines again?" asked Amarah. "We can't go out there and fight like this!" She tore her hat off and threw it aside.

"Uranus, what are you doing?" asked Michelle.

"These disguises aren't going to do us any good. If we're going to get involved in this fight, we'd better have our weapons ready."

"No!" shouted Pluto. "You can't let Sailor Jupiter see you as a Sailor Scout!"

"Look, I don't know much about dimensions and paradoxes," replied Amarah. "But I do know what's happening now, and I know what I have to do to save Sailor Jupiter's life."

"We need to listen to Sailor Pluto!" protested Michelle.

Amarah turned away from her companions and grasped her transformation wand tightly. "I'm tired of watching people die just because it's the right thing to do. I've had enough of it! This time, I'm taking charge of my own battle."

Michelle wrapped her arms around Amarah's waist. "Please. I know how hard it is to do the right thing when it might cost someone their life. But I'm begging you... don't put the universe at risk just because one person might..." She planted her head between Amarah's shoulder blades and let her tears drip down the back of Amarah's shirt. "I don't want you to... to..."

"Relax." Amarah lifted Michelle's hands just enough that she could turn around in her partner's arms. "I'm not going to do anything stupid, I promise." She briefly returned her partner's embrace, then pushed herself away. "Now, hurry up and transform. We've got a life to save."

*************************************************

Tuxedo Mask nearly faltered as he began to shiver in an intense cold. Something portentous was about to happen; he could feel it. His opponent seemed to be weakening, despite his reluctance to attack. Tuxedo Mask fought even harder, feeling his skin burn with the heat of his exertions.

"Now, you're finished!" shouted Ranma suddenly, stepping back out of Tuxedo Mask's reach for a split second. "HIRYU SHOTEN HA!" He swung his fist in an uppercut, sending a rush of cold air to meet the warmth of Tuxedo Mask's body. The swirling air around them, kicked up into a weak tornado by the path of their fighting, became a huge funnel of near-solid air, which sucked Tuxedo Mask up into its center before he could try to escape.

"Tuxedo Mask! NO!" shouted Sailor Jupiter. She forced herself up onto one knee, and then to her feet, wincing as her injured leg took her weight. She staggered, then dropped into her fighting stance. "You let him go right now, or you're gonna regret it!"

Ranma turned to Sailor Jupiter and began to walk forward, slowly distancing himself from the tornado and advancing on her. His face passed from shadow to shadow, until the light from a street lamp illuminated him enough to reveal its features. Tiny drops of water reflected the light from his cheeks. "I already regret it, Lita. I'm sorry, but I have no choice. I have to kill you."

"Why?" demanded Jupiter. "What did I ever do to you?"

"It doesn't matter!" shouted Ranma, and a bright glow sprang up around him. "In a few minutes, you'll be dead, and it won't matter anymore!" He raised his hands and aimed them at her. "MOKO TAKABISHA!" A tiny ball of light formed in his hands and began to grow as he converted his life energy into deadly force...

*************************************************

Amy halted suddenly as she rounded the corner near the dojo. "What's wrong, Amy?" asked Serena.

"It's that boy who attacked us earlier today!" replied Amy. "He's fighting Lita, and it looks like she's in bad shape!"

The others quickly peered around the corner. "What's that tornado doing in the middle of the street?" asked Raye.

"Isn't that Tuxedo Mask in the middle of it?" asked Mina.

"What?" shouted Serena. She rolled up her sleeve. "How dare he hurt my Darien!"

"Hold it, Serena," said Raye, grabbing Serena's collar as she passed in a huff. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

"Let me go! I have to save Darien!"

"Maybe you should transform into Sailor Moon first," suggested Raye.

Serena froze. "Oh, right. Silly me!"

"Sometimes, I really wonder," said Mina, as Serena pulled out her compact and the others their transformation wands.

*************************************************

The ball of light in Ranma's hands grew to the size of a basketball, then quickly doubled in size. Sailor Jupiter stared into it like a deer into headlights, frozen in terror in the face of the ever-growing ball of death. It took all of her effort to lift one foot to take a step backwards, and her injured knee gave a twinge of pain as she did so. She fell to the ground, not once taking her eyes off of the energy ball.

The ball, now slightly wider than Ranma's body, began to flicker. Its surface churned like that of a star, but it no longer continued to grow. Ranma stared at it, sweat pouring down his brow. 'It's never been this tough before! Why can't I channel my power properly?' He closed his eyes, but the light from the half-formed Moko Takabisha still burned in his eyes, leaving an imprint of the cowering Sailor Jupiter. 'This attack is supposed to channel my determination and courage... but can't work up that much determination about killing Sailor Jupiter! This is all I've got! But I have to do it! I have to! For Akane!' The ball stabilized and began to grow once again, slowly. 'Just keep telling yourself... it's for Akane. For Akane...'

A glowing stone shot through the center of the tornado, sending the air scattering as it sped on toward Ranma. The martial artist dodged, losing control of his attack in the process. As the Moko Takabisha exploded, throwing Ranma to the ground, the tornado spun apart and dissipated, dumping Tuxedo Mask unceremoniously into the street. "Not them again!" groaned Ranma. He sensed the incoming ball of water and leapt over it just in time to avoid an embarrassing soaking. "Why does everyone have to attack me with water?"

"Relax!" called a voice from above. "The cavalry is here!" As Ranma landed from his leap, Lina and Ryoko landed to either side of him.

"I can't do it," said Ranma. "I can't kill her like this."

"What a wimp," said Ryoko. "Looks like I'm the one who's going to have to do all the killing. Well, that's fine with me!" She raised a hand eagerly and charged up a fireball. A rose sliced its way through the fireball, dissolving it. "Dammit! That Mask guy is here too? Who sent out invitations to this party?"

"You hold him off for just a sec, Ryoko," said Lina. "Ranma and I will finish off Sailor Jupiter."

"You sure you're not going to chicken out again?" asked Ryoko.

"No problem," said Lina. "Just keep him and those mystery helpers off our backs until we get the job done."

"Gotcha," said Ryoko, forming her energy sword and charging at Tuxedo Mask.

"I told you I can't do it," said Ranma. "I tried."

"We can do it, Ranma," replied Lina. "We'll do it together. That way, we kind of share the blame." She raised a hand, and a fireball began to form. With her free hand, she found Ranma's hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "You ready?"

"I'm ready," said Ranma. "I'll do it for Akane." His hands cupped around a tiny ball of light, which he aimed at Sailor Jupiter. "On three?"

"Right," said Lina. "One! Two! Th-"

"Watch out!" shouted Ranma. A cold fog filled the air around Jupiter and continued to spread toward Ranma and Lina. "The other Sailor Scouts are here!"

"Don't lose your focus!" warned Lina. "We can still blast her!"

"MARS FIRE IGNITE!" shouted Sailor Mars. Ranma and Lina dove in opposite directions to avoid the jet of flame that shot out of the encroaching mist.

A ball of darkness exploded at Ryoko's feet, throwing her into a building without disturbing Tuxedo Mask at all. "TUXEDO MASK, SAILOR SCOUTS, TAKE SAILOR JUPITER WITH YOU AND RUN AWAY!" ordered a deep voice. "WE WILL FIGHT THESE ENEMIES ONCE YOU ARE GONE!"

"Don't let them get away again!" shouted Ryoko as the fog washed over her, blinding her. Ranma barely heard her, as he was halfway up a fire escape, ironically using the device to escape upwards above the level of the fog. He reached the roof in short order and peered over the edge. A tall woman with long dark hair, wearing what appeared to be a Sailor Scout uniform, stood on the roof of the building, watching the battle from above. Ranma quickly ducked out of sight.

Lina stumbled blindly in the fog and raised her arms. "DIEM WING!" The wind spell blew the fog away, revealing the street to be empty except for herself and Ryoko. "Dammit! They got away!"

Ranma leapt down to the street and pointed in the direction the Sailor Scouts had fled. "They went that way!"

"Maybe so, but you won't be following them," said a heavy woman's voice from behind them. They turned to face a Sailor Scout with short dirty blonde hair and a dark skirt, with a ribbon on her front that matched her hair.

"We'll be your opponents," said a lighter voice from behind them. They turned again to face another Scout with shoulder-length aqua-tinted hair and matching ribbon, whose skirt was the same color as the other girl's. "I am Sailor Neptune!"

"And I'm Sailor Uranus," chorused the first. "Your power may be enough to defeat the other Sailor Scouts, but we're far more powerful than they are!"

"Hold on," said Lina. "I thought there were only five Sailor Scouts!"

"And we thought Beryl had only four generals," replied Uranus. "It seems that all of the sides have grown in number."

The woman Ranma had seen on the roof appeared next to Uranus, holding a staff nearly as long as she was tall, topped with a heart-shaped crystal ball. "And the three of you definitely do not belong in this universe. Do you realize that by staying here and interfering with the events of this timeline, you are creating the conditions that will lead to a paradox?"

"That's not our problem," said Ryoko. "We've got our orders, and we're going to carry them out. You're Sailor Scouts, so you've got to die too!"

"I'm not so sure about that," said Lina. "I don't like the sound of what she said. Paradoxes aren't something to take lightly."

"Get over it!" returned Ryoko. "She's just saying that to scare you!"

"No!" shouted the Sailor Scout with the long dark hair. "This universe is becoming more unstable with every action you take! Even the tiniest divergence from the preordained sequence of events could destroy this universe... and all of yours with it!"

"I'm not concerned," said Ryoko. "Queen Beryl wouldn't destroy the universe that she's working so hard to conquer. I'm calling your bluff." She raised her hand and charged up a fireball.

The Sailor Scout held her staff in front of her body. "Do not force us to attack you. We will do so if we must."

"I'm counting on it," replied Ryoko. With a scream, she released the fireball at the tall Sailor Scout, who blocked it with her staff.

Sailor Uranus raised her hand, gathering energy. "URANUS WORLD SHAKING!" She clenched her glowing fist and punched the ground. A familiar glowing stone emerged from the ground and flew toward the group in the center of the ring of Sailor Scouts.

Lina took aim at the incoming projectile. "BURST RONDO!" The tiny projectiles exploded against the World Shaking, breaking it into pieces, but the pieces quickly coalesced into one large energy ball again, not losing any momentum. Uranus' attack slammed into Lina and knocked her down.

A wall of water appeared behind Sailor Neptune. "NEPTUNE DEEP SUBMERGE!" She spun around, gathering energy in her hands, then launched a ball of water at Lina from behind. Ryoko stepped into the path of the ball and raised her shield. The Deep Submerge impacted against the shield with a splash, but when the splash ended, all of the water was inside the shield. Bubbles floated to the surface of the water ball as Ryoko fought to free herself from the moist prison.

Ranma quickly reached through Ryoko's shield, caught hold of her arm, and hauled her out to safety. As soon as Ryoko was outside the shield, it collapsed, leaving the water to splash harmlessly onto the ground. Ryoko gasped for air. "They're too powerful..."

Ranma glared at the new Sailor Scouts as he laid Ryoko down, as if daring them to attack. "Listen, Sailor Uranus, Sailor Neptune, and whoever you are. You don't understand what it is we're trying to do. We're not the bad guys here."

"Aren't you?" asked Neptune. "You're trying to kill the Sailor Scouts. What have they ever done to you?"

"It's not what they've done to us," said Lina, as she stood up. "We don't really have a choice about this. Queen Beryl –"

"Shut up!" shouted Uranus. "I'm not going to listen to this any more!" She raised her hand above her head and gathered energy. "URANUS WORLD –" Her attack was cut off as she fell forward, propelled by an invisible force from behind. Six pairs of eyes turned to stare at the girl in black.

"Go after the others," said the girl in black. "I'll take care of these three."

"You heard the girl," said Ryoko. "Let's go!" She took off into the sky, and Lina followed quickly with Ranma holding on for dear life.

"They're getting away!" shouted Uranus. "Pluto, you have to stop them!"

"Let us vanquish this new opponent first," said Pluto. "Combine your attacks now!"

Uranus and Neptune stood side by side, and hurled their attacks in tandem at the girl in black. "URANUS WORLD SHAKING!" "NEPTUNE DEEP SUBMERGE!" Sailor Pluto pointed her staff at the girl in black and added, "PLUTO DEADLY SCREAM!" The three projectiles streaked toward the girl in black, who merely watched them until they were right in front of her face. She raised a hand, and all three attacks blinked out of existence.

Uranus gasped. "What kind of power is that? She blocked all three attacks at once!"

Neptune turned to Pluto. "Who is that girl? You must know!"

"I do," replied Pluto. "But you will not like the answer."

"I will tell you who I am," said the girl in black. "And then you will return to when and where you belong. Do not throw your lives away fighting a battle that you cannot win."

"Shut up and show yourself!" demanded Uranus.

"Very well," said the girl in black. The shadows shifted, slowly revealing a pair of long legs wearing dark purple knee-high boots, topped by a matching sailor skirt and white leotard with an even darker purple ribbon. A full head of shoulder-length jet-black hair framed a wiry girl's face from which dark eyes stared out from beneath a subtly adorned tiara. The girl's tight mouth curved imperceptibly upwards and downwards at the same time, making her expression unreadable.

Uranus gasped again. "It can't be! Sailor Saturn!"

"Why are you fighting us?" asked Neptune. "You're a Sailor Scout just like us!"

"No," said Sailor Saturn. "I am the Sailor Scout of Destruction. I am not like YOU at all."

"This is not the Sailor Saturn you remember," Pluto warned her comrades. "This Sailor Saturn was taken from her timeline just after she first gained control of her power. At that time, she was still under the control of Mistress 9, the Sovereign of Silence."

"Then that's not really Sailor Saturn, but Mistress 9!" said Uranus.

"Those eyes..." said Neptune.

Pluto gripped her staff. "We cannot afford to waste time fighting here! The Inner Scouts are in grave danger!"

Uranus clenched her teeth. "But if even all three of us can't punch through her protection..."

"We don't have a hope of defeating Mistress 9," said Neptune. "But we have to prevent her from reaching the Inner Scouts at any cost, or she'll destroy them!"

"Are you prepared to risk your lives to defend those worthless girls?" asked Sailor Saturn.

"We'll risk our lives to protect anyone who needs our help!" replied Neptune.

"And the Inner Scouts need that help now!" added Uranus.

"Then I will not withhold my full power any longer," said Saturn. Her glaive appeared in her hands, and she leveled it at Pluto. "Prepare for your destruction."

Pluto charged at Saturn, swinging her staff like a spear. Saturn blocked with her glaive, nearly tearing the Time Key from Pluto's hands. "Come on!" said Neptune. "We've got to help her!"

"Right!" said Uranus. She began to gather energy to summon the Space Sword. As the energy gathered into her hands, however, the color began to drain from the surroundings, casting the world into shades of gray. Huge cracks appeared in the sky, and colorless light began to seep through.

"What's happening?" shouted Sailor Neptune.

Pluto blocked a swing by Saturn. "No! The universe is breaking apart!" She lost her grip on the Time Key as Sailor Saturn swung at it again. The staff spun off down the street, coming to a stop in the gutter. Sailor Saturn pressed the tip of her glaive to Pluto's throat, then looked up. Her eyes grew wide as she saw the ongoing destruction.

"Sailor Saturn! You have to stop this!" shouted Neptune.

"This is not my power at work," replied Saturn. Uranus' energy continued to build as the four Sailor Scouts watched the universe crumble around them.

*************************************************

A pair of yellow eyes watched from the rooftops as four girls in miniskirts ran past, followed by a man in a tuxedo and top hat, carrying a fifth miniskirted girl. "So, those must be the Sailor Scouts... they don't look tough to me. This will be a cinch." He gave the collar of his coat a tug, and seven blue stones glowed beneath the concealing clothing and gloves that he wore to cover them. He flexed his arms experimentally, and a pair of long, slightly curved blades emerged from the backs of his forearms. "Feels good to get the old blades out. Haven't seen much action in a while."

The moonlight glinted off of his fangs as he smiled. "They'll never know what hit them." He leapt from rooftop to rooftop, easily keeping pace with the Sailor Scouts while he waited for just the right moment to drop onto them from above and slice them to pieces. A few seconds. That's all it would take to turn five girls and a man into scraps of bloody flesh, muscle, and bone. His bloody tickets home, just a few short seconds away....

He leapt. Time seemed to slow to a halt as he hurtled toward the bodies below. He was moving at the speed of a falling feather, and the ground was hours away. Thoughts raced through his head as he descended; thoughts of his lost love, thoughts of the love that was yet to come, who was even now trapped in a fragile crystal....

As he drew close to his target, he realized that the time shift was not subjective. Time really had slowed down. The figures below were turning to look up at him, but too slowly... too slowly by far. By the time a pair of eyes could catch a glimpse of him, they'd be inches apart. A blade between the eyes would be quick and merciful. It was the least he could do for such cute girls.

Still, they were getting close now. Nearly within striking distance. Whatever twist of fate or physics had given him time to reflect could only last so long, and the time of death was at hand. The man would die first, of course. He'd aimed at the dark shape of the tuxedo and cape when he'd leapt, and his aim was impeccable as always. Two more feet, and he'd be there. One more foot...

Now. He swung his right blade at the head below the black top hat... and that was when the universe began to fall apart around him.


	7. 6: A Real Cut Up

A General Time Paradox

Chapter 6: A Real Cut-Up

Sailor Uranus paused to stare up into the crumbling sky, the half-summoned Space Sword in her hands. "Sailor Pluto, what's going on?" she asked as the air began to split apart into large chunks.

Sailor Pluto turned to Uranus, moving in slow motion. "Tthhee uunniivveerrssee iiss bbrreeaakkiinngg aappaarrtt," she replied. "Tthhiiss iiss tthhee bbeeggiinnnniinngg ooff aa ppaarraaddooxx."

"Wwhhyy aarree yyoouu ttaallkkiinngg lliikkee tthhaatt?" asked Uranus. The sound of her own distorted speech shocked her, making her lose her balance. She fell backwards, but her movements were as slow as Pluto's had been, as if she were falling through a pool of molasses. She lifted her foot, at the same slow speed, and moved it backwards to catch herself.

"Uurraannuuss!" shouted Neptune as she ran to catch her partner.

"Let go of your sword," advised Saturn. Of the four Sailor Scouts, she was the only one who appeared to be operating in normal speed. "You're building up too much energy at once. This universe can't handle that magnitude of Planet Power at this time."

"Hhooww ddoo yyoouu kknnooww ssoo mmuucchh aabboouutt iitt?" asked Uranus.

"Jjuusstt ddoo iitt!" shouted Pluto. "Wwee ddoonn'tt hhaavvee aannyy cchhooiiccee –"

Sailor Uranus let her power die down, dispelling the Space Sword. As the energy returned to the earth, the fragmented sky collapsed back into one piece with a sound like a thunderclap, but much louder. Time returned to normal, throwing the already unbalanced Uranus even further off-center. Neptune's dive to catch her before she hit the ground also accelerated, and Uranus landed in Neptune's arms.

"- but to listen to her," finished Pluto, as if the time shift had never happened.

Uranus stared down at her body in disbelief, and then back to the sky, as the colors began to return to the surroundings. "Was that really a paradox? I thought..."

"It wasn't a paradox," replied Saturn. "A complete paradox would have torn the universe to pieces instantly. What you saw was a mere imbalance."

"An imbalance that would have led to a paradox, had it not been immediately corrected," added Pluto. "That is what will happen if any of the Inner Scouts die."

Sailor Saturn laughed, chilling the other Scouts to the bone. "Is that what you think? No wonder you're willing to throw your lives away trying to protect them!"

"Shut up! We're not going to trust you!" shouted Uranus. "You're trying to destroy the universe!"

"If I wanted to destroy the universe," replied Saturn, "I would have let you summon your sword."

"Then you're not trying to cause a paradox?" asked Neptune.

"I'm not as stupid as you seem to think I am. I am well aware that a paradox would destroy me along with the rest of the universe. Queen Beryl is the one who thinks she can kill the Sailor Scouts and rule the universe. I, on the other hand, know that it is impossible to destroy the universe of one's own past."

"Then what are you doing here?" asked Pluto. "What do you hope to accomplish?"

"I merely seek to alter this universe ever so slightly," said Saturn. "A few changes here and there, and my victory in the future will be assured."

"But that's in our past," Neptune pointed out. "You can't change that."

"Who said anything about changing your pasts?" asked Saturn.

Pluto paled. "No... you can't!"

"What is it, Pluto?" asked Neptune. "What are you so afraid of?"

"It is not your concern," snapped Pluto, gripping her staff so tightly that her knuckles turned white. "We must defeat Mistress 9 at any cost!"

"How?" asked Uranus. "We can't use our most powerful attacks without tearing the universe apart, and our weak ones can't hurt her!"

"I know that," said Pluto. "But we have no choice. We must fight."

"Then let's do it!" shouted Uranus. "WORLD SHAKING!"

"DEEP SUBMERGE!" echoed Neptune.

The attacks smashed into Saturn's shield with no effect as Sailor Saturn raised her glaive and slowly strode forward. Uranus charged ahead and punched at Saturn. Saturn easily parried the blow with her glaive, then swung the butt of the weapon into Uranus' gut, winding her.

"Sailor Pluto, do something!" urged Neptune. "You've got enough power to stop her, haven't you?"

"It's not safe for me to use my power that way," said Pluto.

"She's going to kill Uranus!" shouted Neptune, as Saturn pointed the business end of the glaive at her incapacitated opponent. Neptune darted forward and grabbed the handle as Saturn struck, jerking the blade away from her partner's chest. Saturn stared fearlessly into Neptune's eyes as she wrestled for control of the glaive, not even breaking a sweat while Neptune fought to pull the weapon away from her.

Saturn finally twisted the glaive out of Neptune's hands and threw her aside with a mighty heave, reclaiming her weapon. She lowered the blade to where Uranus lay – only to find that Uranus had regained her feet during Saturn's scuffle with Neptune. Saturn quickly swung her glaive behind her, barely in time to deflect Uranus' punch, then stepped aside and parried a blow from Pluto's staff.

"Your shield may be able to block our projectiles," said Uranus, "but can you fight all three of us at once, hand to hand?"

Sailor Saturn sneered. "It doesn't matter. The Sailor Scouts are fighting four opponents as we speak. By the time you get to them, they'll be long dead."

Neptune froze in place, halfway back to her feet. "Four opponents? Who's the fourth?"

"Never mind who it is!" said Uranus. "If they get to the Inner Scouts before we do, they're as good as dead!"

"Pluto, please!" pleaded Neptune. "You have to do something!"

Pluto bit her lip nervously and brandished her staff. "There is only one thing I can do. I'll try to hold off Sailor Saturn alone. The two of you must go and help the Inner Scouts."

"We can't let you do that!" said Uranus. "You'll be no match for her alone!"

"I'm afraid there is no other option," replied Pluto. "Don't worry about me. Just go!"

"But Sailor Pluto..." protested Uranus.

"Come on!" urged Neptune, grabbing Uranus' sleeve. "We have to save the other Scouts. Pluto knows what she's doing, I'm sure of it!" Uranus nodded, and the two of them ran past Sailor Saturn and set off on the trail of the Sailor Scouts. Sailor Saturn swung her glaive at them as they passed, but Pluto intervened and blocked with her staff. Saturn's stare burned into Pluto, but Pluto defiantly stared right back at her until Uranus and Neptune were out of sight.

"You know that you can't kill me," said Pluto, once she was sure that the others couldn't hear her.

"I know," replied Saturn. "But there are other ways to defeat you – ways that won't break the seal." She reached toward Pluto's face with her right hand. Stunned, Pluto was unable to move until Saturn's hand was inches from her face. She quickly backed away from the encroaching hand and swung her staff at Saturn's arm, narrowly missing as Saturn pulled her hand back. Saturn feinted with the glaive, causing Pluto to take another step back, then turned and ran in the direction the other Scouts had gone.

"Oh, no you don't!" shouted Pluto, giving chase immediately. She raised her staff and aimed at Saturn's fleeing form. "PLUTO DEADLY SCREAM!" Sailor Saturn turned and raised her shield to block the projectile, but in that second, Pluto was upon her. Pluto swung her staff, hitting the side of Saturn's head. Saturn staggered, but regained her balance in time to block Pluto's next swing.

"You know that you, also, can't kill me," said Saturn, as she swung her glaive at Pluto's head.

"There are other ways to defeat you," replied Pluto, ducking the glaive and thrusting her staff into Saturn's stomach. She followed with another blow to the head as Saturn reeled, leaving the dark girl on her knees in the street, cringing in pain.

"Damn this weak body," moaned Saturn. She struggled to get to her feet, but couldn't even get her knees off the ground. A tear fell from her eye. "Why... why must I be so weak?"

"I have no pity for you, Mistress 9," said Pluto. "Nor do the other Guardians of Time."

"I don't need your pity!" snapped Saturn. A wave of dizziness pounded her, and she cradled her head in her hands.

"And you won't get it," Pluto replied smoothly. "I'll put an end to your plan, whatever it may be."

"I'm... not... beaten... yet..." murmured Saturn, as dark waves of energy rose around her.

"Not yet," agreed Pluto. "But you'll never trouble us again." She raised her staff and held it horizontally in front of her body. "PLUTO DIMENSIONAL BANISHMENT!" Sailor Saturn's eyes grew wide as the energy waves surrounding her rose above her head to form a bubble. The bubble vanished, leaving behind nothing but a few last wisps of energy, which were quickly blown away by the breeze as air rushed in to fill the vacuum left by her sudden disappearance.

Pluto fell to her knees, panting heavily. Her sailor fuku shimmered and became her casual clothes, and her jewelry vanished. "I didn't think it would take that much out of me," Trista wheezed. "I'd better rest before I join the others." Her eyes fell on a nearby bench, and she started to rise to her feet. Before she could stand up, however, her weariness caught up with her, and she collapsed to the street. "No! I have to get up. I can't... fall asleep... here..." Despite her protests, Trista's eyes closed, and her muscles relaxed themselves. She let her head come to rest on her arms and slowly sank into a deep sleep.

*************************************************

The Sailor Scouts stopped in their tracks as time seemed to slow down around them. "Wwhhaatt'ss ggooiinngg oonn?" asked Sailor Venus.

"Iitt ffeeeellss lliikkee ttiimmee hhaass sslloowweedd ddoowwnn," said Mercury.

"Wwhhaaaaaaaatt?" asked Sailor Moon. "Ii ccaann'tt uunnddeerrssttaanndd aa wwoorrdd yyoouu'rree ssaayyiinngg!"

"Tthhaatt'ss bbeeccaauussee ttiimmee hhaass sslloowweedd ddoowwnn!" snapped Mars.

"Wweellll, hhooww ddoo wwee ssttoopp iitt?" asked Sailor Moon.

"Wwee ddoonn'tt wwaanntt ttoo ssttoopp iitt," replied Mercury. "Wwee wwaanntt ttoo ssppeeeedd iitt bbaacckk uupp."

"Yyoouu kknnooww wwhhaatt Ii mmeeaanntt," said Sailor Moon.

Sailor Jupiter's eyes opened, then closed, then opened again. She slowly jerked upwards in Tuxedo Mask's arms. "Ttuuxxeeddoo Mmaasskk! Aabboovvee yyoouu!"

Tuxedo Mask started to turn to look upwards, but his body refused to comply, dragging in slow motion just as the Sailor Scouts' speech had. He reflexively ducked, hoping to avoid whatever was coming despite the fact that he couldn't yet see it. His hat fell apart as a blade sliced through it, narrowly missing his head. He transferred Jupiter into one arm and grabbed his cane with the opposite hand, swinging it at his attacker while the two halves of his hat fell to the ground at a feather's pace.

"Llooookk aatt tthhee sskkyy!" shouted Venus. "Iitt'ss bbrreeaakkiinngg aappaarrtt!"

"Wwhhaatt aarree yyoouu ttaallkkiinngg aabboouutt?" asked Mars as she slowly turned her head up to look at the sky. She gasped as she saw the huge cracks forming in the atmosphere.

"Iitt'ss hhoorrrriibbllee," said Mercury. "Wwhhaatt ccoouulldd iitt mmeeaann?"

"Ii hhaavvee aa bbaadd ffeeeelliinngg aabboouutt tthhiiss!" said Mars.

Meanwhile, Tuxedo Mask's attacker blocked the slow-motion swing with his blades as the caped crusader finally turned far enough to see him. While they both withdrew their weapons for another swing, Tuxedo Mask had plenty of diluted time to take in his opponent's form. Dirty gray-green hair framed what appeared to be two pairs of slanted eyebrows, pointing to the tiny black dot in the middle of his forehead. The eyes that peered out of the round face had vertical pupils, like a cat's, but the rest of the eyes were white rather than the yellow that Tuxedo Mask had seen in the eyes of his former catlike opponent. A large, loose-fitting overcoat did little to obscure the bulging muscles within, especially since the sleeves were rolled up to accommodate – Tuxedo Mask had to look twice to make sure he wasn't seeing things – the long curved blades that protruded from the backs of his forearms.

The man swung one of these blades at Tuxedo Mask's head again, and Tuxedo Mask maneuvered his cane to block. What seemed like minutes later, the two weapons collided with a sound like thunder, but much louder, as if it were echoing off of the buildings around them. Tuxedo Mask felt his breathing return to normal speed, and the flaps of his opponent's coat settled against his hips immediately.

Mercury swung her head from side to side. "Everything's gone back to normal!" she announced.

Tuxedo Mask's opponent raised his arms defensively, pointing the blades right at Tuxedo Mask. "You finished playing around with time yet? I'm not in the mood for games!"

"What? You think we did that?" asked Sailor Moon. "I thought you were the one who –"

"Who are you, anyway?" interrupted Mars. "Why are you attacking us?"

"The name's Kusanagi," he replied. "Some crazy lady called Beryl wants me to kill you."

Sailor Mars growled. "How many of these creeps is she going to send after us?"

"But if he really wasn't the one who slowed time down, then who did?" wondered Mercury.

"Forget about that," said Venus. "It's over now. We've got a new problem to deal with."

"Let's get rid of this guy!" shouted Mars. "MARS FIRE IGNITE!"

Kusanagi leapt over the flames and slashed downwards at Mars with his blades. Without the benefit of time dilution, Mars couldn't react quickly enough to dodge both blades. The left blade missed completely, but the right one sliced a nasty gash down the side of her face, and another on her shoulder. No sooner had Kusanagi's feet hit the ground than he fluidly spun around and jabbed the left blade into Mars' side, then quickly pulled it out again in a spray of blood.

"Sailor Mars!" screamed Venus. She clenched her left fist as she pointed her right index finger at Kusanagi. "VENUS CRESCENT BEAM SMASH!"

Without even turning his head to look at it, Kusanagi blocked the incoming beam with his blade. "Nice try, pretty girl, but I'm too fast for you." He swung his arm in Venus' direction. As he did so, the arm turned into a woven rope of plantlike stems, telescoping outward to slam his fist into Venus' stomach. She crumpled to the ground at the same time that Sailor Mars did.

"He's not human!" Mercury whispered to herself.

"Leave my friends alone!" shouted Sailor Moon as she leapt at Kusanagi. Occupied as he was with retracting his arm, he sensed the incoming blow just a bit too late to dodge. Sailor Moon planted her right knee into the side of his head, then swung her left leg around to kick him in the face. Kusanagi caught her left ankle and held it at arm's length, letting her dangle upside down in front of him. Her skirt settled down around her abdomen, exposing the white leotard beneath. Sailor Moon swung her fists at Kusanagi, but couldn't reach any higher than his knees.

Kusanagi laughed out loud. "It's been a long time since I saw a pair of girl's underwear that didn't have an animal on it."

"What are you, some kind of pervert?" asked Sailor Moon.

"Yeah, she used to call me that," replied Kusanagi. "Then HE took her..." He swung Sailor Moon up above his head, then slammed her down into the ground. "It's your fault! I'll kill you all!"

"Stop it! She hasn't done anything to you!" shouted Tuxedo Mask.

Kusanagi turned to Tuxedo Mask, who was standing protectively in front of Sailor Mercury. "You're trying to protect them? Great job so far. Not exactly batting a thousand, are you?"

"Please, stop this!" shouted Mercury. "You're not a slave of the Negaverse! Why are you working for Queen Beryl?"

"It's weird," said Kusanagi, scratching his chin as he stared at her. "You look a little like her."

"Like whom?" demanded Mercury, stepping around Tuxedo Mask. "Not Queen Beryl!"

"No," said Kusanagi, shaking his head. "Never mind. I just got a good look at you. You don't look like Kaede after all. That's good." He tensed his arms, and his blades appeared again. "That makes it easier to kill you." He charged at Mercury with his blades raised to strike.

Tuxedo Mask stepped forward to meet Kusanagi's charge, but it was Sailor Jupiter's upward kick that stopped his blades before they could find their mark in Sailor Mercury. Jupiter wriggled free of Tuxedo Mask's protective embrace and dropped into her fighting stance before Kusanagi. "I won't let you hurt my friends!"

"What's with all of you?" asked Kusanagi. "My friends this, my friends that... don't any of you look out for yourselves?"

"We're a team," said Jupiter. "And that means we always work together!" 

"We're the Sailor Scouts!" added Mercury. "And in the name of all that is good, we shall punish you!"

"Who will?" asked Kusanagi. "Them?" He waved his hand at the other Sailor Scouts. "I'm not worried. You'll be the ones who die!"

Electricity crackled around the antenna of Sailor Jupiter's tiara. "Bring it on!"

Meanwhile, Sailor Venus had dragged herself over to Sailor Mars and began to examine her wounds. "Are you okay, Sailor Mars?" she asked.

Sailor Mars weakly opened her eyes a crack. "He got me, didn't he?" she asked.

"I'd say," said Venus, nearly turning away in revulsion. "You're bleeding pretty bad." She stared regretfully at her fuku. "I wish these uniforms had some more fabric." She tore the ribbon from her chest and pressed it against Mars' side. "Just hang on and try to stay conscious. Everything will be all right."

"Is he going to finish us off?" asked Mars.

"I really hope not," replied Venus. "I'm no doctor, but you probably wouldn't survive another wound like this." She removed one of her hands from the ribbon and stared at the blood that had soaked through and covered her palm and fingers. "I need to use your ribbon too."

Mars looked down at the wound for the first time. "That's going to become a nasty scar, isn't it?" She sighed and let her head fall. "I never imagined we'd get into fights like this. Up until now, everything's been so easy. Now, we don't even know if we can survive..."

"Don't say that!" said Venus. "We can't give up hope! We're going to survive, and we're going to win!"

Kusanagi's plantlike arm wrapped around Tuxedo Mask, quickly binding his feet before working its way up toward his head. Tuxedo Mask could do nothing more than turn his wrist to maneuver his cane into position to block the blade as it darted toward his throat. Kusanagi hauled Tuxedo Mask into the air and held him there while he charged at the remaining two Sailor Scouts with his free arm poised to strike.

Sailor Jupiter stepped aside to avoid a slash from Kusanagi, but fell to her knees as she landed poorly on her bad leg. She turned to look up at Kusanagi as he prepared to land the killing blow. "JUPITER THUNDER CRASH!" The lightning struck Kusanagi in the chest, knocking him backwards and forcing his arm to loosen its coils around Tuxedo Mask.

"Now, Sailor Mercury!" shouted Tuxedo Mask as he dropped to the ground. "Cover our escape!"

Mercury nodded. "MERCURY BUBBLES SPLASH!"

"DIEM WING!" answered a shout from above. Wind swept through the street, blowing the fog away as quickly as it could form. Lina, Ranma, and Ryoko landed in the clearing.

"Not you three again!" groaned Jupiter.

Ryoko stared at Kusanagi. "Who the heck are you?"

Kusanagi smiled. "You must be the useless bunch of clods Chronite told me about. Nice of you to finally show up."

"WHAT did he call me?" shouted Ryoko. "Just wait until I get my hands on that jerk!"

"Calm down, Ryoko," warned Ranma. "We need to deal with the Sailor Scouts right now."

"Don't worry," Ryoko assured him. "I'll show Chronite what I'm capable of!"

Blood continued to spill from the cloth beneath Venus' hands. "Damn! I'm already using all of our ribbons!" Her hands cast about for another piece of fabric, then came to rest on her own skirt. "Man! I can't do that!"

"I'm getting cold," moaned Mars. "Venus? You're still there, right?"

"Don't worry, Sailor Mars," said Venus. "I'm not going to let you die!" She tore her skirt off and pressed it to Mars' wound. "It's a good thing these uniforms regenerate." She took one of Mars' hands in her own. "Just hang on, Sailor Mars. You're going to be okay."

"That's fine," said Sailor Mars deliriously. "Be okay... that's good..."

"No!" shouted Venus. "Don't go into shock! Please, don't lose it now! Be strong, Sailor Mars!"

"I'm strong. I'm an ox. I'm a wild scallion. I'm a cherry soda..."

"What?"

Mars opened her eyes again, but they failed to focus, as if she were staring right through Sailor Venus' head. "Mom? What are you doing here?"

Venus looked upwards into the night sky and saw nobody. "What are you talking about, Mars? Your mother's dead, remember?"

"I'll be ready for school soon," groaned Mars. "Just five more minutes..."

"Don't fall asleep!" shouted Venus. "You have to stay awake!" She shook Sailor Mars by the shoulders. Mars shook her head and winced at the returning pain in her side. Venus rubbed Mars' frigid hand between her bloodstained fingers. "Everyone else is too busy fighting to help... just try to stay awake a little longer, Sailor Mars. You're going to make it."

Kusanagi sighed. While Sailor Mercury tried to block Lina's magic with her bubbles to one side, Sailor Jupiter desperately fended off Ranma's best moves on the other, and Tuxedo Mask fenced with Ryoko in the middle, he was hungry for some action of his own. He turned to where Venus was desperately trying to keep Mars' blood in her body. "Those three can handle themselves for a while. I've got some unfinished business to take care of." He watched as Venus tore Mars' skirt off and added it to the makeshift bandage. "Yowza! And people think I'M a pervert!"

Venus tensed up as Kusanagi approached. "Stay back!" she shouted, pointing her finger at him. "Don't make me shoot you!"

"Ooh, I'm so scared," said Kusanagi. "Better put that finger away before you hurt someone."

"You asked for it! VENUS CRESCENT BEAM SMASH!"

Kusanagi blocked the beam with a blade. "Not a bad shot. But you still can't hit me."

Sailor Mars stirred. "Keep them away... keep them away..."

Tears welled up in Venus' eyes. "Please, leave us alone. She's dying."

"That's the idea," said Kusanagi. "I guess those dumb blonde jokes weren't all accurate. Too bad I'm gonna have to spill that great brain of yours all over the street!" He abruptly swung his arm, slashing at Venus' head. Venus screamed and raised her arm to ward off the blow, but Kusanagi's blade sliced right through, tearing skin, muscle, and bone – and then stopped. Venus opened her eyes as Kusanagi jerked his blade out of her arm and began to claw at his face, trying to dislodge a small black furry shape that had attached itself to his head.

"Luna?" asked Venus.

"Sorry we took so long to get here," said Artemis from beside Mars' head. "I hope we're not too late."

"I don't know," said Venus. "Sailor Mars isn't doing too well, and I just took a hit myself." She lowered her right arm slowly and cradled it in her left, watching the blood spill as she moved it. "I think my hand is going to fall off!"

"Then hold it still!" advised Artemis. "I'll try to get Sailor Mercury's attention. She'll know what to do about your injuries."

"Is that it? Can't you do something useful?"

Artemis did his best to shrug. "Sorry, Sailor Venus. I'm just a cat. What can I do?"

Realization crossed Venus' face. "Artemis! You and Luna attack the pigtailed boy!"

"What? Why do you want us to –"

Kusanagi finally peeled Luna off of his face and tossed her into the middle of the battle. Ranma screamed. "C-C-C-C-C-C-C-C-C-C-CAT!" He backed away, right into Lina.

"Hey, watch it!" snapped Lina.

"He's afraid of cats?" asked Artemis. "Well, that gives us something to work with!" He leapt onto Ranma's shoulder and bit Ranma's ear.

Ranma froze. "Get it off me!"

"What's the big deal?" asked Ryoko. "It's just a cat."

"Call it off!" shouted Ranma. "Call it off!"

"Just reach up there and grab it," said Ryoko. She stepped forward, eliciting a hiss from Artemis. Ranma screamed again.

"So, you don't like cats?" asked Luna, as she leapt onto Ranma's other shoulder.

"Get off!" shouted Ranma. He reached up and tried to swat the cats off of his shoulders, but they easily dodged his hands, climbing around on top of his head. Ranma continued to scream, but his screams gradually grew weaker and weaker, turning into crazed laughter.

"He's starting to scare me," said Lina.

Ranma fell to his knees, dislodging his passengers from their perch, then put his hands on the ground. A deep rumble rose in his throat.

"What's that noise?" asked Jupiter.

"I've never heard a human make a noise like that before," said Artemis. "It almost sounds like... he's purring!"

Ranma began to lick the back of his hand, then rubbed it against his ear.

Sailor Scouts and enemies alike stared at Ranma. "What the heck is he doing?" asked Kusanagi.

"He seems to think he's a cat!" said Luna.

Ranma glared at Luna and growled.

"Hey, cut it out!" shouted Kusanagi. "You're supposed to be killing the Sailor Scouts, remember?" Ranma yowled and swatted at Kusanagi. The front of Kusanagi's coat and shirt fell apart in ribbons, revealing a set of strangely-shaped blue stones embedded in his chest. "What the –? He didn't even touch me!"

"Okay, everyone stay calm!" advised Lina. "Don't make him mad!"

Ranma turned his attention to Sailor Mercury, slinking toward her with amazingly catlike grace, considering the unusual posture required to walk on one's hands and feet. Sailor Mercury rubbed Ranma's head lightly. "My, aren't you a cute cat? Good cat." Ranma sniffed at Mercury, then batted a paw, slashing four crimson stripes across her chest. "Ouch! Bad cat!"

"Leave him alone!" whispered Artemis. "Venus and Mars need your help!"

"Right." Mercury quickly backed away, while Ranma scampered off to investigate Ryoko.

"I think we'd better try to knock some sense into him," said Ryoko. She drew her sword and waved it at Ranma. Ranma looked up from playfully swatting at her tail, his eyes following the glowing rod as it moved back and forth. "That's it. Watch the pretty sword."

"Ryoko, don't tease him," warned Lina. "He could be dangerous."

Ryoko smiled at Lina. "Don't worry. Cats and I share a special bond." Ryoko heard a horrifying grinding sound and turned to see Ranma chewing on what little was left of her sleeve. She let go of the sword and picked Ranma up by the collar. "All right, Ranma. Enough's enough. Time to stop playing around and kill some Sailor Scouts!"

While Ranma and Ryoko vanished into a tornado of flying fur, Sailor Mercury knelt next to Sailor Venus. She let a few bubbles splash onto Venus' arm, cleaning the blood from the wound. "This looks bad. I think this cut goes into the bone. I'd better splint it right away." She tore the ribbon off her chest and placed it over Venus' wound. "Hold this on it, and keep your arm as still as possible."

"What about Sailor Mars?" asked Venus.

Mercury used her power to clean the blood from Mars' side. "I think it's nearly stopped bleeding. She should be okay."

"She's in shock!"

"Loosen her clothing and cover her with a blanket," advised Mercury. "I'll try to find something to use as a splint for your arm." She quickly stood up and ran away.

"Mercury, wait!" shouted Venus, but Mercury didn't slow down. Venus looked down at Mars again. "How the heck do you loosen a leotard?"

*************************************************

Trista awoke to find herself in a comfortable bed. "Where am I?" she asked. "How did I get here?"

"I found you sleeping in the middle of the street," replied a light male voice from nearby. "A young woman like you shouldn't leave herself vulnerable like that, especially in those clothes. No offense meant, of course."

Trista shrank away from the young man beside the bed. "You didn't..."

"Of course not," replied the young man. "But I know quite a few men who would have. This part of town isn't known for its upstanding citizens. You're lucky I'm the one who found you."

Trista breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you."

"Here, have some tea," he offered, placing a tray on the bed. "You must be very tired. You've been sleeping a long time."

"How long?" she demanded.

"I can't really say," replied the man. "You were asleep when I found you."

"How long ago was that?" asked Trista.

The man shrugged. "About half an hour, I'd say."

Trista abruptly sat up, knocking the tray over. "I have to go! The others need me!"

"Hey! Careful!" shouted the man as he dove for the falling teacup. "That's my mother's good china!"

"I'm sorry," Trista apologized. "But I must go! There is no time to waste!"

"You should probably calm down. You're acting as if the entire world is depending on you!"

"It may very well be," said Trista, climbing out of the bed. "I thank you for your hospitality. And now I must leave." She ran out of the bedroom and quickly made her way outside.

In the safety of a nearby alley, Trista pulled out her transformation wand. "PLUTO PLANET POWER!" A curtain of energy surrounded her as her casual clothes transformed into the familiar fuku of Sailor Pluto. With a wave of her arms, the Time Key appeared in her hands. "Now, I must help the others!" She quickly faded into the Time Gate, thankful that she had such a means of swift transportation. Ideally, she would have been able to travel back in time and arrive at the battle in time to be useful, but that was not an option while foreign actors occupied the timeline. At least she could still feel the energies of all of the other Scouts, although most of them were fading quickly. They were still alive, and the universe showed no signs of another impending paradox. As long as they could hold out until she arrived, they might yet have a chance to survive.

*************************************************

The first thing Sailor Moon noticed as she awoke was a colossal migraine. The next sixty things she noticed were the other various aches all over her body. From the headache to her throbbing, possibly twisted ankle, she felt as if she could be the spokesgirl for every painkiller commercial on television – once she had taken a heavy dose of said painkillers. Lacking them, it was a struggle against her exhausted muscles just to try to stand up. But she had to fight again, to save her friends. Sailor Venus was behind her, tending to Sailor Mars' wounds despite the fact that her own right arm had been sliced halfway through. Sailor Jupiter was trying to keep Kusanagi away from that pair, with a bit of help from Luna and Artemis, and there was no sign of Sailor Mercury at all. Of course, with her grasp of strategy, Mercury was probably off working on a plan to... to... well, that was why it was Mercury's plan and not Sailor Moon's.

As Sailor Moon got to her hands and knees, she caught sight of the other three opponents behind Kusanagi. The pigtailed boy appeared to be attacking the two girls, although Sailor Moon couldn't imagine why. She'd thought they were all on the same side...

That line of thought ended abruptly as Kusanagi's blade slashed Jupiter's face, drawing a bloody line from the center of her forehead down the side of her nose, ending at her left cheek. Jupiter fell backwards, clutching her bleeding face with one hand while the other tried to ward off Kusanagi's continuing blows. Every blocked swing of his blades left a fresh cut on Jupiter's right arm as she was slowly pressed backwards, toward the other fallen Sailor Scouts.

Sailor Moon forced herself to her feet. "I told you... to leave my friends... alone!" She tore her tiara from her forehead. "MOON TIARA MAGIC!"

Kusanagi ducked the tiara, blocking a kick from Jupiter at the same time. "You may dress like sissies, but you've got some fight in you!" He shot his fist at Sailor Moon, whose aching body failed to move in time to avoid it. The powerful appendage pounded her in the chest, leaving a deep impression in her ribcage. She fell back to the ground, gasping for air but getting none.

Jupiter raised the fist of her remaining good arm defensively. "JUPITER THUNDER CRASH!"

Kusanagi held his arm in front of his face, letting the electricity engulf the limb. "I never thought about the advantages of being part plant until now." Jupiter stepped back to strike again, but her leg gave out once again, dumping her to the ground. Before she could try to get up, Kusanagi planted a foot on her chest and pressed down, pinning her. "You've got nothing left to fight with, honey." 

As Kusanagi raised his blade to decapitate Sailor Jupiter, a glowing stone smashed him in the side, knocking him off Jupiter. "They're here!" shouted Lina.

"Who's here?" asked Ryoko, barely holding Ranma at arm's length. She turned to Lina, who had already leapt several feet away. "What are you -?" A ball of water engulfed Ryoko and Ranma, drowning the end of her question. Ryoko felt Ranma's bone structure shifting in her hands, and red streaks began to appear in his black hair. As the bubble dissipated, Ryoko quickly teleported away, taking him with her.

"Who's shooting at us now?" demanded Kusanagi, staring at the roof of a nearby building.

"It's those other Sailor Scouts!" replied Lina.

"What others?" asked Jupiter. "There aren't any other Sailor Scouts!"

"Other Sailor Scouts..." Artemis wondered aloud. "Could they really be here?"

"Could who really be here?" asked Luna.

"The Sailor Scouts of the Outer Planets... but they can't be on Earth! Not now!"

"Whoever it is, I'm not letting them make a fool of me!" shouted Kusanagi. He leapt up to the rooftop and took off after the unseen attackers.

"Guess that leaves just you and me," Lina said to the remaining members of the opposite team. She raised her arms as if holding a bow and arrow. "FREEZE ARROW!" Her projectile struck Artemis and Luna, encasing the cats in a block of ice.

"Luna! Artemis!" shouted Venus.

"I wouldn't worry about them," said Lina. "They're going to survive. It's yourselves that you should be worried about." A rose struck the ice block imprisoning the two cats. The ice cracked, but didn't break enough to free the cats. Lina sighed. "You really should run away, Tuxedo Mask. You're only going to get yourself killed by staying here."

Blood dribbled from Tuxedo Mask's mouth as he spoke. "I'll never abandon the Sailor Scouts... until I die."

Lina shrugged. "Fair enough. FIREBALL!" Tuxedo Mask covered his face with his cape as the Fireball engulfed him. As the flames caught in his clothes, Tuxedo Mask threw himself to the ground and began to roll to put out the flames. However, they only seemed to grow as he writhed in agony.

Jupiter pushed herself up into a sitting position. "JUPITER THUNDER CRASH!"

Lina raised her arm, and the lightning struck the amulet on her wrist and vanished. "Now it's my turn." As she raised her hand to cast a spell at Sailor Jupiter, a wave of bubbles washed over Tuxedo Mask, extinguishing the fire. Sailor Mercury dropped a large bag of chopsticks and a short piece of twine next to Sailor Venus and took her position beside Jupiter.

"Are you okay, Sailor Mercury?" asked Jupiter, staring at the large bloodstain on the front of Mercury's torn leotard.

"They're just scratches," Mercury assured her. "Sailor Venus and Sailor Mars were hit a lot worse. We have to protect them."

"We've only got one opponent left," said Jupiter. "Think we can hold out?"

"I wouldn't count on it," said Lina. "You're dealing with Lina Inverse now. And I don't think you're going to be running away again, when half of you are in no condition to run."

"We're not afraid of you!" shouted Jupiter.

"And I'm not afraid of you," replied Lina. "Let's see which one of us should have been afraid." She raised her arms. "DIEM WING!"

Mercury and Jupiter quickly crouched, bracing themselves against the powerful wind that blew from Lina's hands. Their position failed to save them, however, as the wind quickly overcame them, sending both of them, as well as Mars and Venus, flying. Mars cried out as the half-healed wound in her side was torn open again from the sudden movement. Venus' scream came moments later, as she landed on her injured arm. The resulting crack sounded as bad as it felt.

"That should buy me some time," said Lina. "Now to finish you off." She closed her eyes and began to chant. "Darkness beyond twilight, crimson beyond blood that flows..."

Jupiter pushed herself up to her elbows. "Is everyone okay? Mercury?" Sailor Mercury didn't respond.

"I can't move my arm!" shouted Venus.

"Are you going to be all right?"

"I don't know, but she's casting another spell! You've got to stop her!"

"I pledge myself to conquer all the foes who stand..." A dragon appeared in the sky behind Lina.

Jupiter raised her head. "JUPITER THUNDER..." Her head throbbed, and she held it in her hands. "I can't do it!" she groaned. "It hurts too much!"

Venus tenderly cradled her right arm in her left hand and pointed it at Lina. "VENUS –"

"Don't!" shouted Jupiter. "The pressure could blow your arm right off!"

"Well, what can we do?" asked Venus. A shadow passed over her.

"Let the fools who stand before me be destroyed by the power you and I possess!" shouted Lina.

Lina opened her eyes, and the dragon in the sky did the same. A figure stood between her and the fallen Sailor Scouts, holding a short wand topped with a crescent moon. "By the power of the moon, I will not let you hurt my friends!" announced Sailor Moon, raising the Moon Crescent Wand in defense.

Energy gathered in Lina's hands, and she took aim. "DRAGON SLAVE!"

A horizontal pillar of fire shot out of Lina's hands toward Sailor Moon, exploding on impact. Lina smiled as Sailor Moon vanished within the depths of the fireball. The explosion hadn't grown much larger than a standard Fireball spell, however, when the flames began to shrink back into themselves. Lina clenched her teeth and poured more power into the spell. The fireball grew slightly, but most of the energy at the boundary seemed to be getting sucked into the center rather than expanding outward to engulf the other Scouts. Lina stared at the anomaly, transfixed, until she felt her own energy beginning to wane. She quickly broke the spell, letting the remaining energy implode as it was absorbed into the Moon Crescent Wand. The Silver Imperium Crystal within the crescent glowed brightly for several seconds after the spell ended. As the glow faded, so did Sailor Moon, falling first to her knees, then flat on her face.

Lina also fell to her knees, breathing far more heavily than she had expected. "What did she do to me? I feel so weak!"

"Now's our chance!" shouted Jupiter. "JUPITER THUNDER CRASH!" She winced at the pain as the electricity leapt from her tiara.

The lightning lanced through Lina's body, throwing her onto her back. She lay there, staring up into the sky. "They're just a bunch of girls with wimpy powers that even Sylphiel would laugh at! How could I possibly lose to them?"

"Finish her off!" said Venus.

"Give me a minute," said Jupiter, rubbing her head. "That hurt more than I thought it would."

"We may not have a minute!" snapped Venus.

Lina managed to sit up. She held her arms in front of her chest so that the four amulets lined up. "Lord of darkness of the four worlds, I call upon you. Grant me all the power you possess," she chanted, and the amulets glowed brightly. Lina felt strength flowing into her, but it was little more than what she had had before. She doubted that it would be enough to cast more than one small spell. She quickly stood up and took aim at the Sailor Scouts.

"Hang on, guys," said Jupiter, crawling toward the fallen Moon Crescent Wand on her hands and knees. "I'll protect us."

"Will it work for you?" asked Venus.

"I don't think so," said Jupiter. "But we've got to try something!"

Lina watched as Jupiter collapsed to the ground, then pushed herself up and tried once again to reach the wand, only to collapse again. Sailor Venus tried to stand up, but immediately gave up as her arm threatened to snap in two. Tuxedo Mask was also getting to his feet, slowly but surely. However, he wouldn't be able to stop Lina from destroying the Sailor Scouts with a quick Fireball spell.

Lina closed her eyes to concentrate all of her power on an attack spell, but the image of the dying Scouts remained in her mind. Seeing her battered opponents in such horrible shape made Lina's heart sink. She glanced at her palms, contemplating the power that she had, power against which the Sailor Scouts were now completely defenseless; and then back at the Sailor Scouts themselves as they all waited for the end that they knew was coming. She felt like a monster. No, worse. She felt like she had when... when...

"I'd better not waste the last of my power," she whispered to herself. "I can't afford to leave myself vulnerable." She let her arms drop to her sides. "RAY WING!" The power of her spell carried her up to a rooftop, and she began to leap across the buildings in search of Kusanagi and his opponents.

"She's getting away!" shouted Venus.

"Let her go," said Tuxedo Mask. "We can't chase after her now."

Sailor Mercury groaned and sat up, holding her head. "Ouch... what's going on? What's happening?"

"Lina took off," said Venus. "One second, she was about to blast us all to pieces. The next, she was running away."

"There sure is something funny about those guys," said Jupiter. "That Kusanagi guy really seemed to want to kill us, but those others..."

"Whether they wanted to kill us or not, we definitely lost this battle," said Mercury.

"Well, at least we're all still alive," Venus pointed out.

"How is Sailor Mars doing?" asked Mercury. She turned to examine Sailor Mars, but Mars had reverted into her normal form. "Raye? Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine," Raye said softly. "I feel a lot stronger since I let go of the Sailor Scout power."

Mercury nodded. "It takes a lot of power to transform. When you get weak, you turn back to normal so that you can use that power to help speed the healing process."

"How long will it take to heal?" asked Raye.

"I don't know. We heal faster than most humans do, thanks to Planet Power, but a serious wound like this one will still take a day or two to clear up completely."

"I don't know if we have a day or two," said Raye. "They've attacked us twice today. How long before they strike again? Who says they're not on their way back right now?"

"You're right," agreed Mercury. "Venus, I'd better make a splint for your arm!" She quickly located the chopsticks and twine, which had landed not far from the Sailor Scouts, and hastily splinted Venus' arm. "That should hold until we can get an ambulance here."

"We can't go to the hospital," said Jupiter. "That's the first place they'll look."

"But Raye and Mina need immediate treatment, and the rest of us should be examined as well!"

"It's too dangerous," replied Jupiter. "They're looking for us in our normal identities. If we check into the hospital with wounds like these, it'll give us away!"

"She's right," agreed Tuxedo Mask. "Although it may not be safe to go untreated, you can't afford to put yourselves in a public place in your conditions."

"We can't miss school!" protested Venus. "That will give us away too!"

"We'll talk about that later," said Mercury. "Right now, we have to get everyone someplace safe. We can't stay here, or they might return to finish us off."

"We can't go to my apartment," said Jupiter. "They already know who I am."

"The Cherry Hill Shrine is probably our best bet," said Mercury. "It may be far away, but it has the best medical facilities available. Not to mention that Raye's grandfather may be able to offer some spiritual protection for Raye if anyone comes after her."

Tuxedo Mask knelt beside Raye and lifted her, cradling her carefully to avoid agitating her injury. "Sailor Venus, can you move?"

Venus held the splinted arm in her left hand as she stood up. "It should be okay."

Jupiter slung the unconscious Serena over her shoulder. "Okay! Let's get going!"

Everyone who was capable of moving did so, making rapid progress toward the Cherry Hill Shrine. Suddenly, Venus stopped. "Wait!" she shouted.

"What's wrong?" asked Mercury. "Is the splint not holding up?"

"That's not it! We forgot Luna and Artemis!"

"Oh. Right." With a half-chuckle, half-sigh, Sailor Mercury trotted back to pick up the frozen cats and carry them along to the shrine.

*************************************************

"Just wait until I get my hands on you!" growled Kusanagi as he chased after the retreating figures. They were Sailor Scouts, all right, but they were far more agile than the ones he'd fought before. This pair leapt from rooftop to rooftop as easily as he did, and liked to split up from time to time. When he chased after one of them, the other would attack him, blasting him with either a ball of water or a massive stone. Nothing powerful enough to hurt him, of course, but that didn't seem to discourage them at all. In fact, they seemed perfectly content to merely lead him further and further away from the other Sailor Scouts. That was fine by him, of course. These two would soon learn why it was a bad idea to piss off Mamoru Kusanagi.

Of course, he'd have to catch them first, and at this rate, that was easier said than done. He was starting to feel a bit fatigued from his fight, and his quarry didn't seem to have flagged a bit. Kusanagi would have bet even money on his ability to catch a cheetah on his worst day; but when that cheetah could fight back, the game became quite a bit tougher.

The two Scouts took off in opposite directions again, and Kusanagi chased after the tan-haired one. He'd discovered quickly that her stones were a bit more dangerous than the other one's water balls, so she became the target when they separated. He didn't have any trouble dodging the ball of water that he knew was coming, but it always prevented him from making an effective attack. This time, however, he tried a different strategy. He swung wide as he approached, hoping to draw the enemy fire away from his line of attack so that he could dodge toward, rather than away from, his target.

It worked. The ball of water streaked toward him, and he changed his trajectory to fly straight at the Sailor Scout in tan. She wasn't unprepared, of course, but he had the longer reach. His arm shot out, clipping her ear as she barely dodged.

"Uranus, are you all right?" shouted the other Scout as she leapt toward him.

"Stay back, Neptune!" shouted Uranus. "I can handle myself!" Uranus launched herself straight at Kusanagi, forcing him to cross his arms over his chest to block. He knocked her a short distance away and leapt forward, swinging his left blade at her while his right arm retracted. She kicked upwards as she fell onto her back on the rooftop, knocking his blade aside and catching his face with her heel.

"You're a lot faster than those other Scouts," said Kusanagi as Uranus flipped to her feet. He leapt to a different roof as Neptune tried to trip him from behind. The two Sailor Scouts took up side by side attack positions – and then turned tail and fled again across the rooftops.

"Dammit, come back here!" shouted Kusanagi as he gave chase again. "Quit running away and fight already!" At the rate he was going, it could be hours before he wore them down enough to catch them... assuming that they ran out of energy before he did. It was still only a short time after sunset, and his body had been through quite a bit of exertion before fully awakening.

Fortunately, the chase didn't last much longer. As the two of them split up once again, Ranma dropped from the sky, cutting off Uranus' escape. A fireball exploded at Neptune's feet, throwing her from the roof, and Ryoko floated down to land behind Uranus. The surrounded Sailor Scout cast her eyes back and forth between Ranma and Ryoko, fighting back her panic.

"Not a bad distraction," said Ryoko. "By the time we found some hot water for Ranma, the other Scouts were long gone. Even the trail of blood ended after a while." She clenched her fist, and her energy blade appeared. "But we can take care of those whiny girls anytime we want, especially with our new partner in crime. Right now, you're the one we're after."

Without a word, Uranus charged at Ryoko, dodging Ryoko's reflexive swing to kick her in the chest. She followed up by grabbing Ryoko's arm and flinging her at Ranma, who leapt over the flying Space Pirate and resumed his defensive position.

Kusanagi smiled and turned from the battle, leaping across the rooftops to the spot where Neptune had fallen. He peered over the edge of the roof, expecting to see her broken body four stories down, waiting for the merciful blow that would finish her off. Instead, she was hanging onto the edge of the roof by her fingertips, unable to pull herself up but still clutching doggedly to her only handhold. She gasped as she turned her eyes upward and saw him standing over her.

"Say, let me give you a hand," said Kusanagi. He raised his foot and brought it down hard on the fingers of her left hand, forcing her to let go of the roof. As she dangled by only her right hand, she risked glancing downward to assess the likelihood of surviving the drop. The piles of garbage below her offered little reassurance of a stable landing. She reached up to grab the roof again, but the heavy pressure of Kusanagi's foot pressed down on her right hand, nearly making her lose her grip completely.

Uranus gathered energy in her fist. "URANUS WORLD SHAKING!" She pounded the roof, launching a ball of stone at Ranma. Ranma vaulted over the stone, aiming to land on Uranus' head. Uranus stepped back and kicked upwards at him, but Ranma agilely avoided the kick, grabbing Uranus' upstretched leg and tagging her inner thigh with his foot. Uranus' entire left leg went numb at the contact, and she stumbled backwards into a chimney.

"Had enough, Sailor Uranus?" asked Ranma, as Ryoko landed next to him.

Uranus tried to stand up, but her left leg refused to move. "What did you do to me?" she demanded.

"Can't move, eh?" asked Ryoko. "This should be easy!" She shot a fireball at Uranus, who threw herself aside to dodge as the fireball smashed the chimney into dust.

"Wow, you're really hanging on there," said Kusanagi as he ground his toes into Neptune's fingers. "It would be faster to just reach down and slice your head open right now. But I'm not stupid enough to give you something to grab onto." He lifted his foot and tensed his right arm, deploying his blade. "I'll just cut your hand off instead."

Neptune swung her legs against the side of the building and pushed off, swinging herself up in a circle and planting her foot in Kusanagi's face. He stumbled backwards, giving her room to land on the roof.

"You feisty bitch!" said Kusanagi, admiringly. "You've got some real moves."

"You should never underestimate your opponent," said Neptune. "That will be your downfall."

"Thanks for the tip," replied Kusanagi. "I never ignore advice from a beautiful woman."

Neptune recoiled in shock. "What are you hoping to achieve by flattering me?" she asked.

Kusanagi shrugged. "I figured it couldn't hurt."

Uranus rolled away from another fireball, but the explosion threw her against a brick outcropping. "Why won't you just die?" shouted Ryoko. Uranus grabbed the outcropping and pulled herself to her feet – or foot, as only her right leg was in any condition to support her weight. She threw herself forward, rolling under Ryoko's next fireball and thrusting her good leg into Ryoko's stomach. Using Ryoko as a springboard, she flipped back to her feet and rolled again, this time toward Ranma.

Ranma anticipated the incoming blow and grabbed her right foot as she aimed it at his groin. "You're pretty good, even when you can't use your whole body. You would have been great at Anything-Goes Martial Arts. That's why I hate to have to do this." He twisted at the waist, driving his knee into Uranus' knee with full force. Uranus screamed in pain.

"Uranus, hang on!" shouted Neptune. She darted forward, stopping just short of Kusanagi to trip him with a leg sweep. In a flash, she was on her feet, leaping to Uranus' rescue. "NEPTUNE DEEP SUBMERGE!" Ranma froze as the water approached him, but Ryoko leapt in front of him, shielding him from the water with her own body. She fell to her knees as the shower ended, coughing up water.

"Thanks, Ryoko," said Ranma.

"Don't get me wrong, Ranma," spluttered Ryoko. "I just don't feel like going through another hunt for hot water."

Taking advantage of Ranma's distraction, Uranus pounded him in the knee, sweeping his leg out from under him with her other arm. Ranma lost his balance and fell backwards, landing on Uranus' left leg. Uranus winced, but the anticipated pain never came. She quickly turned over in an attempt to free her leg, but a movement caught her eye. Kusanagi was sneaking up behind Neptune with his blades poised to strike. "Neptune, look out!" she shouted.

Neptune ducked as Kusanagi slashed at her neck, leaving only the ends of a few strands of hair as victims to the chop. As she fell into a crouch, she kicked up behind her, catching Kusanagi in the side. She quickly rolled forward as Kusanagi slashed at her again, slicing the rear off of her skirt and scratching her back just deeply enough to draw blood. Ignoring the pain, she leapt away from Kusanagi in a high arc that took her over the still-spluttering Ryoko. Kusanagi gave chase, leaping up just as Ryoko did. The two of them collided in midair, landing on top of Ranma in a three-person heap.

Sailor Neptune took aim at the pile of enemies. "NEPTUNE DEEP –" A sword flew through the air, narrowly missing Neptune's arm. "What was that?"

"You've got the Mask guy throwing roses at us whenever we try to attack," said Lina, leaping to the occupied roof. "I figured I'd even the score."

"I suppose we can't expect anything else from you," spat Uranus.

"Hey, just because I'm out of magic for the moment doesn't mean I have to sit by and watch you kill my partners. Of course, that water attack isn't going to do anything but soak them." She picked up her sword and shrugged. "Go ahead. Do your worst. Kill me if you can."

"You're giving me a free shot?" asked Neptune.

"Why not? It's not like a little water's going to hurt me," said Lina.

"Dammit!" shouted Kusanagi as he stood up. "Just kill them already! Quit toying with them! That's why they keep getting away!"

Neptune adjusted her aim. "NEPTUNE DEEP SUBMERGE!" The ball of water swept Kusanagi away, depositing him at the edge of the roof.

"Hmmm..." said Lina with a nod. "Not bad. Maybe he was right. Maybe I should kill you right now." She brandished the sword threateningly.

"I can't allow you to do that," deadpanned a voice from Lina's prior perch. Sailor Pluto stood proud and tall, holding her staff at her side like a queen's sceptre.

"How the hell many of them are there?" asked Kusanagi. He swung his arm at Pluto and extended it, launching his powerful fist at her. She easily turned it aside with her staff, and smoothly swung the staff around to point at Kusanagi. "PLUTO DEADLY SCREAM!" The projectile landed right on target before Kusanagi could attempt to dodge, leaving him no time to do anything more than stab his blade into the rooftop for support as he fell off the edge. Kusanagi dangled by his blade, barely conscious from the power of the blast.

Ryoko and Ranma leapt to their feet. "Go ahead!" challenged Ryoko. "Do your worst! We've seen your powers in action, and you have nothing powerful enough to kill us!"

"You bitch," said Kusanagi as he pulled himself up onto the roof. "I'll get you..."

Pluto smiled. "Uranus, Neptune... I hope this helps you." She held her staff horizontally in front of her body. "PLUTO DIMENSIONAL BANISHMENT!" A black bubble formed around Kusanagi, and then vanished, leaving no trace of him.

All of the spectators stared in amazement. "He's gone!" shouted Lina at last.

Pluto lowered the staff, momentarily wearing a shocked expression before replacing it with a mask of cold contempt. "Who wants to be next?"

Ryoko put her hands on her companions' shoulders. "I don't know about you two, but I'm all for running away."

"Works for me!" agreed Ranma. They all stepped backwards through a portal and vanished into the Negaverse.

Neptune knelt beside Uranus. "Are you okay?"

"I hope so," said Uranus. "Whatever he did to my leg, I should be able to fix once I get the time to examine it. As for my knee, I've just got to pop it back into place. I've been through worse than this."

"You got here just in time, Pluto!" said Neptune gratefully. She turned to Pluto, whose former contemptuous countenance had become morose. "Is something wrong?"

"That didn't tire me out at all," said Pluto. "When I banished Saturn to her own dimension, the effort put me to sleep for well over half an hour. I expected to be even more tired this time, since I only just woke up. But I don't feel weak at all."

"Maybe you just needed a rest," suggested Neptune.

"Or maybe Saturn was just more powerful," added Uranus. "Saturn wasn't affected by the paradox, remember? Maybe she's immune to normal time effects, and it took all of your power to send her back."

"I sincerely hope that you're right," said Pluto. "But I fear that something has gone horribly wrong. If it has, and if it does involve Sailor Saturn, then a paradox is almost certain."

"But she's gone now, right?" asked Uranus.

Pluto nodded. "Yes. And so has Kusanagi."

"Then there's nothing to worry about," said Neptune. "We can beat the other three, can't we?"

Pluto nodded again. "The other three will be no threat to us. But Beryl and Chronite are far from powerless. They will be able to summon yet another fighter."

"Then we've got to get ready," said Uranus. She grabbed her right leg and twisted it, snapping her knee back into place with another scream of pain.

Neptune wrapped her arms around Uranus' chest. "I'm sorry, Uranus. I should have done something sooner."

Uranus returned the embrace. "You were in enough danger yourself. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine." Uranus felt some kind of moisture soaking through Neptune's uniform and peered over Neptune's shoulder to look at it. "Neptune! You're bleeding!"

"I know," replied Neptune. "It's just a scratch. We can bandage it when we get back to our room."

"Just like you to pretend that an injury is nothing," said Uranus with a smile. "Oh well. Help me pop my other leg back into place."

Pluto smiled. "Despite our misgivings, and a few setbacks, this battle was indeed a victory for us. If we can fight this well in the future, we may yet be able to win the war." For the first time since she had sensed the disturbances in the timeline, Pluto felt relieved. At last their fight was beginning to look hopeful, even if that hope was faint. Pluto knew that her relief was unlikely to endure very long; but it would feel good while it lasted, and she needed to keep her spirits up. After all, the hardest battles were always yet to come.

  



	8. 7: Troubled Pasts, Troubled Presents

A General Time Paradox

Chapter 7: Troubled Pasts, Troubled Presents

Queen Beryl frowned into the crystal globe which, until it had suddenly gone dark, had been showing her the events unfolding on Earth. She turned the globe over in her hands, examining it from all sides. "What is going on? I can't see anything!"

"The Sailor Scouts have some powerful allies, my Queen," said Chronite.

Beryl let the globe fall into her lap, giving her an unobstructed view of Chronite. "Must you always appear like that?" she snapped.

Chronite bowed in apology. "I am sorry, my Queen."

"Spare me the groveling, Chronite. What news do you have of the battle?"

"The battle is over, my Queen. The Sailor Scouts live, but they have been heavily wounded. Three of ours have returned, but there is no sign of Kusanagi or Sailor Saturn."

"What has happened to them?" demanded Beryl.

"I do not know, my Queen. But I suspect that Sailor Pluto may have done something to them."

"Sailor Pluto? The Guardian of Time? You said she wouldn't be a problem!"

"I believed that she would not, my Queen. When she uses her power, it increases my power. I did not expect her to be willing to take that risk."

"Why does using her power increase yours?"

"It was Sailor Pluto who sealed my powers within this dimension. However, the seal also restricts her own powers. In order to use her powers, she must break part of that seal, and she cannot restore it herself. Thus, every time we force her to use her powers, my power will grow."

Beryl idly rolled the crystal ball in her lap. "Then we must force her to use that power. We need another ally, Chronite."

"I quite agree, my Queen," said Chronite with a bow.

"Don't try to flatter me, Chronite. You are not currently in my favor."

"My Queen?"

"The fighters you have brought me so far are useless. Obviously, our coercion is not working. We cannot rely on warriors who fight for love. We need a warrior who will fight for the sake of fighting."

"That could be dangerous, my Queen," warned Chronite. "Remember that my power is limited in this dimension. In their own worlds, I have no difficulty controlling our recruits. However, in this dimension, I cannot stop them from fulfilling any evil desires that they may have, including defeating the two of us and conquering the Negaverse for themselves."

"Do you doubt my own power, Chronite?" asked Beryl.

Chronite bowed again. "Of course not, my Queen. You are undoubtedly the greatest power in this dimension. Therefore, I am sure that you are wise enough to realize that in the infinite dimensions to which I have access, there are powers even greater than yours. Any attempt to harness one of those could prove to be our – I mean, your undoing."

If Beryl heard the slip, she ignored it. "Of course I know that. However, there are certainly powers out there that we will be able to control."

Chronite nodded. "I already have one in mind, my Queen. A creature held in captivity for its entire life, not yearning for freedom only because it does not know what freedom is."

"Is it powerful enough to destroy the Sailor Scouts?"

"Its power should be more than adequate for our purposes, my Queen," replied Chronite.

"Will Sailor Pluto be able to interfere again?" asked Beryl. "Will she be able to eliminate this new fighter as she did Kusanagi?"

"I do not know, my Queen," said Chronite. "I do not know what power Pluto used to do that."

"I know what it was," replied a low voice from behind the throne. "She used it on me directly." Sailor Saturn stepped out from behind the throne, cloaked in shadow.

"What power did she use?" asked Chronite. "How did you survive?"

"I believe that will be all, Chronite," Beryl cut in. "You have your assignment."

"But, my Queen –"

"Are you questioning my orders, Chronite?"

Chronite stared levelly at Beryl. "No," he said coldly. After a pause, he grudgingly added, "my Queen." He vanished.

"You do not trust him?" asked Saturn.

"That is none of your business," snapped Beryl. "Now, tell me about Sailor Pluto's power."

"She has the power to banish our warriors to their dimensions of origin. They can never be returned to this dimension once her power has banished them."

Beryl frowned. "You said that she used this power on you directly?"

"I am immune to it, because this is my dimension of origin. She cannot banish me from it."

"But our other warriors are susceptible to it?"

"Only if they are weak enough at the time," replied Saturn. "The stronger the will of the target, the more difficult it is to separate them forcibly from this dimension."

Beryl nodded, deep in thought. "Is this power a threat to us?"

"We should probably treat it as a threat," replied Saturn. "The others must be warned."

"Very well. And you will need to take a much more active role in the battles from now on."

"That may not be wise, Queen Beryl. My body is weak, and in my weakened state, Pluto can banish me to the Negaverse until my power returns."

"Do not presume to tell me what is wise and what is not," said Beryl. Sailor Saturn's lip tightened briefly, but her shadowed appearance hid this from Beryl. She bowed slightly, then turned and walked away from the throne.

When the throne had vanished into the darkness behind Saturn, Chronite appeared in front of her. "Now, tell me everything you told Beryl."

Saturn smiled. "You're not so formal when she can't hear you, are you?"

Chronite raised his hand as if to smack her in the face. "Watch your mouth!" he snapped.

"Do you care to test my power?" asked Saturn. "Without your full power, I could destroy you in seconds."

Chronite's muscles tensed as he fought to control his rage. He took a deep breath and calmed down. "Sailor Saturn... Mistress 9... I must know what power Pluto has over me. That bitch Beryl has no right to withhold information from me."

"She doesn't trust you," Saturn pointed out. "I can't say that I blame her."

"Ha! That pigheaded idiot still believes that she has more power than me, even when I finally reclaim all of my power!"

"No wonder, when she's growing fat on your flattery."

"Exactly the point, my dear Mistress 9. No sense giving her the impression that I am a threat. Should she decide that I am dangerous, she might try to destroy me."

"Then, in fact, you are the one who is afraid of her?"

Chronite tensed up again. "Do not mock me! Just you wait! I will force Pluto to use her powers, and then I will be stronger than you and Beryl put together!"

Saturn grinned slyly. "That will be something to see."

Chronite again forced himself to calm down. "I have urgent business elsewhere. Are you going to tell me what I want to know or not?"

Saturn chuckled. "You're very amusing. I enjoy watching you grovel." She grunted, and waves of dark energy rose around her body, barely perceptible in the darkness of the Negaverse. Chronite took a step back in fear, but then stopped in his tracks and nodded knowingly.

"I see. This is the energy that Pluto used against you. I can feel it now." He closed his eyes and extended his senses, groping at the power around Saturn. "Yes, it is indeed a force to be reckoned with."

"What are you going to do about it?" asked Saturn.

"I'm going to do nothing, for the moment. Beryl won't order another attack until our people can root out another one of the Sailor Scouts' true identities, so I have time to think. I will secure our next ally in the meantime." He faded out of the Negaverse.

"What an idiot," said Saturn. "His confidence will be his downfall as much as Beryl's will be hers." She paused thoughtfully. "I just hope that I do not become overconfident as well."

*************************************************

Raye opened her eyes to find herself lying in her own bed at the Cherry Hill Shrine. Amy, Lita, and Mina surrounded the bed, staring down at her with concern all over their faces. "Guys! You're all right!" She tried to sit up, but a shooting pain in her side forced her back down.

"Oh, be careful!" Amy admonished her. "Kusanagi stabbed you in the side, and it still hasn't fully healed. You'll need to stay in bed for at least another day."

"Where's Serena? And Darien?"

"Serena's still sleeping, and Darien's watching her," replied Lita. "She blocked one of Lina's spells, and it took everything she had to do it."

"Meatball-head had the power to do that?" asked Raye.

"Barely," said Mina. "If Lina's power hadn't given out when it did, Sailor Moon probably would have lost it, and we'd all be dead."

Raye looked up at Mina and saw a sturdy brace covering her right forearm. "Mina... you saved my life, didn't you? And you took a nasty hit in the process..."

"I'm not counting," said Mina. "Besides, this brace that Amy made should allow me to use my arm normally until it heals. So in the end, there's really no harm done."

"I'm so sorry... I spent the whole battle bleeding to death, and you guys had to protect me."

"We're just glad you're alive!" said Lita. "We'll do anything it takes to protect a friend. No thanks or apologies necessary!"

Raye shook her head. "I'm only going to be a burden on you guys now."

"No you're not!" insisted Amy. "You're Sailor Mars, and you'll always be a valuable part of our team, no matter what state you're in!"

"This arrangement will work out well," said Lita. "I can't go back to my apartment anyway, and I can't go out in public, so I'll stay here to keep an eye on you until you've healed up."

"But... if there's a battle..."

"Don't argue," Amy commanded softly. "You need to rest. In another day or two, you should be able to fight with the rest of us. Until then, we'll just have to hold our own."

"I wouldn't worry so much," said Lita. "Artemis thinks he might know who our mystery allies are, so we should be able to trust them in the future."

"I can't make any guarantees," said Artemis from the foot of the bed, "but our allies might just be the Sailor Scouts of the Outer Planets."

"The who?" asked Raye.

"As far as we can remember," explained Luna, "in addition to yourselves, there were also Sailor Scouts that represented the planets Uranus and Neptune."

"They were the protectors of the Solar System from outside invasion in the days of the Moon Kingdom during the Silver Millennium," added Artemis. "Their powers were somewhat greater than yours."

"When you were sent into the future, they were sent even farther ahead, to be prepared for more powerful enemies that would attack much later than Queen Beryl."

"That's why they can't possibly be here at this time," concluded Artemis. "But if Lina wasn't lying when she mentioned other Sailor Scouts... that's the only thing I can think of."

"Could this be the time at which they were meant to arrive?" asked Amy.

Artemis shook his head. "I'm sure it's not for at least a century, long after your mortal lives are over. They will help to ease the transition of this world into the New Moon Kingdom of the Crystal Millennium during their own mortal lives, while you will exist only as Sailor Scouts."

Mina scowled. "You can remember all that, but you can't remember how we can increase our powers?"

"Getting angry at Artemis isn't going to help us," Lita reminded her.

"If only I could watch them use their attacks for myself," said Artemis. "Or even just see the attacks again, now that I know they might be Sailor Scout attacks. That might remind me."

"Don't worry about it, Artemis," said Amy. "I've been working on a way to get better use out of the powers we have."

"And what have you come up with?" asked Raye.

"So far, nothing." Everyone facefaulted. "I said I was working on it! I never said I had any results!"

Mina was the first to get back to her knees. "Why should we not be worried, when our best plan has no results yet?"

Amy blushed. "Well, I wouldn't say that everything hinges around my plan... we still have our natural skills and abilities."

"Our natural skills and abilities?" asked Mina skeptically.

"They've gotten us this far, at least."

Mina looked at the brace on her arm, then at Raye, and finally to the corner of the room where Darien was cradling Serena in his arms. "That's what worries me."

"Just relax," advised Raye. "We'll just have to deal with the next fight when it comes."

"You won't be dealing with anything for a while," Lita reminded her.

Raye groaned. "I won't even be able to pray at the sacred fire..."

"Your grandfather and Chad are both praying for your swift recovery," Amy informed her. "I wish there were something more we could do, but only time will heal your wound now."

"How's Serena doing?" asked Raye.

"She's just sleeping now," said Darien from the corner. "She'll probably wake up tomorrow morning, good as new. Maybe she'll even be up on time for once." He bent down and kissed Serena lightly on the cheek. She didn't stir.

"She's lucky to have someone like you to watch over her like that," said Lita.

"She's not lucky," countered Amy. "She's a princess, and Darien is her prince."

"Either way, I wish I had someone to watch over me like that," said Raye. She reflexively turned to the door, where Chad had just appeared. "No, Chad, I meant someone besides you."

Chad bowed his head. "I'm really sorry, Raye. I wish I'd been there when those muggers attacked you."

"Then you'd probably be dead by now," said Raye. "The Sailor Scouts were there to save me and my friends. That's all that matters."

"It's all because of those Sailor Scouts!" seethed Chad with a clenched fist. "They ruin all my opportunities to prove my love for you!"

"Chad, trust me. You don't need to be jealous of the Sailor Scouts."

"Then you do care about me!" Chad leapt into the air, then happily floated out of the room.

Everyone continued to stare long after Chad had left the room. "He's weird," said Mina at last.

"Well, don't worry, Raye," Lita assured her. "I'll be here until you're completely healed, and I won't let anything happen to you, even if I get another scar to match this one."

Raye smiled back, although she was beginning to feel somewhat woozy. "Thanks, Lita. You're a real... friend." She let her head fall back onto the pillow and fell asleep instantly.

"Good. She's getting some sleep," said Amy. 

Mina yawned. "And we need to get some as well, now that we know she'll be all right."

"Yes, we need to get home quickly, before our parents worry too much about us," agreed Amy. She and Mina quickly said their good-byes to Lita and left the room, and Darien followed shortly after, carrying Serena.

"I sure hope you wake up in time, meatball-head," said Darien. "I don't want you to die if I can't protect you again." He kissed her one more time before leaving the building. This time, she squirmed slightly in his arms and smiled. Darien returned her smile and set off for the Tsukino residence.

*************************************************

Michelle eased her way into the motel room, careful to support Amarah as she hobbled in, leaning heavily on Michelle's shoulder. "Just a little further, Amarah."

Amarah lowered herself onto the bed with a pained groan. "I can't believe I lost both legs."

"They were really tough, Amarah," said Michelle. "I think we're lucky to have survived."

"We thought we were going to turn the tide of the battle," said Amarah. "But we can barely keep ourselves alive."

"The tide of the battle will change," said Trista as she stepped into the room and closed the door behind her. "Sailor Saturn was the greatest threat. Now that she is gone, we should have little trouble dispatching the remaining opponents."

"That's a relief," said Amarah. "But I still don't understand why Sailor Saturn was attacking us in the first place."

"Yes, you seemed very nervous about something," said Michelle. "Something having to do with changing our pasts."

Trista sighed. "It's really a matter far above your concern. You're better off not worrying about it."

"You know that always makes me worry more," said Amarah. "I don't like feeling helpless. The thought that I can't do anything..." She clenched her fists and trailed off.

"I know. But this is truly a fight that you can do nothing about."

"Why don't you let us decide that for ourselves, Pluto?" asked Michelle. "Knowing the truth will be better than fearing the worst, and it will set our minds at ease."

"Are you sure? The truth could very well be far worse than anything you could imagine."

"I'll believe that when I hear it," said Amarah. "So start talking already."

Trista sighed again. "I will try to explain so that you can understand, but do not be discouraged if you cannot. These matters are not meant for mortals to comprehend.

"I suppose I must begin by defining my role as a Guardian of Time. You, as mortals, experience time as a flow of events. However, to a Guardian of Time, time is merely another dimension like space, easily traversed with some small degree of effort. Guardians of Time also experience a flow of events, but it exists beyond time. You might call it 'supertime.'

"At the beginning of supertime, there were one hundred forty-four Guardians of Time. Each was granted the power to control one aspect of existence. The aspects were paired, one representing 'yin,' and the other representing 'yang.' For example, the yin element of Love was paired with the yang element of Hatred. Mortals might try to classify these as 'good' and 'evil,' but both halves are needed for a complete universe. Only the highest aspect, Time itself, and the lowest aspect, Void, were not paired.

"We Guardians of Time existed for a single purpose: to bring about and control existence itself. We pooled our abilities to create an infinite collection of universes, each possessing all of our aspects in some form or another. However, we could not efficiently devote our efforts to every universe simultaneously, even having separated the Time of those universes from our supertime. So, we divided the universes among ourselves, giving an equal set to each Guardian."

"Equally dividing an infinite number of universes?" asked Michelle. "How is that -?"

"Do not concern yourself with the details," replied Trista. "In any case, as supertime progressed, each Guardian of Time would take a body that resembled a mortal form and live the course of time in each universe from the moment of its creation to the moment of its destruction. In this universe, my mortal identity is that of Sailor Pluto. However, as a Guardian of Time, my true title is Severer 4, Lord of Death."

"That sounds familiar, somehow," said Amarah.

"It should. You see, our plan worked smoothly for some period of supertime, but as all plans do, ours began to fall apart. Some of our number, those representing the 'yang' elements such as Silence, Chaos, War, Hatred, Nightmares – " She paused uneasily. " – and Death... began to lose control, becoming corrupted by the incredible power that they wielded. Their opposites began to weaken, and existence became unbalanced."

"You named yourself," said Michelle. "Does that mean that you, also, were corrupted?"

"Not entirely," replied Trista. "The other Lords of the yang elements gathered together to overthrow Father 1, the Lord of Time, and Mother 144, the Lord of Void. They had hoped to gain control of the entire Council, but the Council was too powerful for them. I avoided that conflict, knowing that their efforts were doomed. They were defeated, and their powers were sealed. Their universes were destroyed to avoid spreading the corruption, and they were banished from the Gate of Time for all of supertime.

"After that, I returned to the Council to swear my allegiance once again, and was granted my seat. However, the deposed Guardians have always sought to reclaim their power, and to control the Council itself completely. That is the conflict that Mistress 9 speaks of."

"Mistress 9!" shouted Amarah. "I understand now! She was the Guardian of Time who ruled Silence, wasn't she?"

Trista nodded. "Yes. She still swears her allegiance to Pharaoh 90, the Lord of Chaos, because she hopes to gain something from him when she has helped him regain his full power. He was once the most powerful Guardian of Time by far, save for Father 1 and Mother 144. His rise to power was so swift that his opposite number, Regius 55, the Lord of Order, died from the abrupt loss of his power. He was not the only casualty from the insurrection, but he was the first. Many have said that had he survived, the War of Time could never have occurred."

"Skip the politics," snapped Amarah. "What do Mistress 9 and Pharaoh 90 hope to accomplish by taking over this universe?"

"They seek to return to the Gate of Time in my stead at the end of this universe," replied Trista. "They would then regain their power, and could begin building up power in other universes and plotting to depose the Council once again. Already, Marius 78, the Lord of Nightmares, has begun to build her power in another one of my universes, forcing Helios 77 to take refuge in this one because of his weakness. They believe that they can convince me to join them again, and because I control Death, I would be able to destroy their opponents easily."

"But you won't do that, right?" asked Michelle.

"Rest assured, I want no part of their dirty plan. However, I may not have a choice. As I am unable to control the future at this moment, Mistress 9's plan may come to fruition."

"Okay," said Amarah. "So what IS the plan?"

"This is where it begins to get complicated," began Trista.

"You mean it wasn't complicated before?" asked Amarah. Michelle shushed her.

"Do you remember the tree analogy that I used before to describe oblique dimensions?" asked Trista. Amarah and Michelle nodded. "Well, every tree has a trunk. No matter how high up in the tree you go, the trunk is the thickest part. It gets thinner and thinner as you climb the tree, but it is always thicker than the surrounding branches."

"And there's an oblique dimension like that?" asked Amarah.

"Yes. There is one timeline in every universe that is far more likely than any other, because all choices have preferred outcomes. To use the example I used earlier, if Sailor Neptune's life were in danger, Sailor Uranus would be more likely to try to save her than to run away. That most likely timeline, the trunk of the tree, is known as the One True Timeline, and it is the only timeline that can be seen by an observer from outside that universe."

"It must be very significant in the grand scheme of things, then," said Michelle.

"Very much so. It is the timeline along which the Guardian of Time lives during his or her mortal existence, and thus it is the only connection between the universe and the Gate of Time."

"So Mistress 9 and Pharaoh 90 want to gain control of the One True Timeline?" asked Amarah.

"They cannot alter the events of the One True Timeline," replied Trista. "However, they can make certain choices more likely in the future, thus changing which timeline of those that already exist is the One True Timeline. It is possible, for example, to plant in Sailor Moon's head the idea that she cannot defeat Queen Beryl, by demoralizing her with defeats. Thus, the possibility that she defeats Queen Beryl anyway will exist, but it will be weaker. However, that cannot be Mistress 9's goal. I believe that she means to steer the probabilities in her favor. She wants a timeline where she defeats the Sailor Scouts in the future to become the One True Timeline."

"Is that possible?" asked Michelle. "Can she really change the One True Timeline?"

"Yes," said Trista. "The One True Timeline of other universes has been shifted, in cases where time travel was possible for mortals. A young man named Trunks managed to alter the probabilities of his universe, replacing the former One True Timeline with a much better one, although he could not completely destroy the possibility of his own dark future."

"What will happen if Mistress 9 succeeds?" asked Michelle.

"Then, in the One True Timeline, Sailor Saturn's power will destroy this universe."

Amarah nearly leapt to her feet in shock. "Destroy the universe? But if that happens in the One True Timeline... won't it destroy all timelines?"

"No," replied Trista. "Sailor Saturn's power is twofold. She is the Sailor Scout of Destruction, but she is also the Sailor Scout of Creation. Her power allows her to destroy the universe and replace it with anything she desires, although she herself is destroyed in the transition. If Mistress 9 uses that power, then she will create a new body for herself to use when Sailor Saturn is destroyed and will be the ruler of the new universe. Although she will not be able to destroy me without destroying herself as well, my power will be unable to prevent her from seizing the Council of Time along with Pharaoh 90."

"Is that really going to affect us?" asked Amarah. "If it's happening in another timeline, then we won't even notice it, will we?"

"Of course we will," replied Michelle. "Think about it. All of existence ruled by Chaos and Silence and Nightmares... if these forces take over, what will become of our world? Of all worlds?"

Amarah sighed. "I can't picture it. Pluto was right. That fight is way above us. We can't oppose that kind of power by ourselves."

Michelle nodded. "As much as we may feel like the defenders of this world, even we are dwarfed by the magnitude of the true conflicts that matter. But isn't that the way all people are? Insignificant in the big picture, but they try to live their own lives regardless of how little impact they may have."

"Many would lose hope if they knew the truth about their destinies," agreed Trista.

"What about us?" asked Michelle. "Don't we have a hopeful destiny?"

Trista's eyes lost their focus momentarily, as if she were focusing on an unpleasant memory. She shook her head to clear it. "Even in your case," she said carefully, "it is best not to know."

"Enough fortune-telling," said Amarah. "We know what we can't do anything about. So what CAN we do?"

"We must protect the Inner Scouts," said Trista. "We must defeat any remnants of Mistress 9's plan in order to prevent the One True Timeline from shifting."

"But I thought you couldn't see the future," said Michelle.

"I cannot," replied Trista. "I cannot see the results of my actions on the timeline. I am still aware of all timelines, but I do not know which one will become the One True Timeline."

"Then how will we know if what we're doing is right, or if we're just playing into Mistress 9's hands?" asked Amarah.

Trista paused. "We cannot," she said at last. "But protecting the Inner Scouts is our immediate goal in any case. That much I know, even without being able to see the consequences of my actions. The timelines do not branch again until the defeat of Queen Beryl. The Sailor Scouts must survive until then."

"Sailor Saturn seemed to think that the deaths of the Inner Scouts wouldn't cause a paradox," Michelle pointed out.

Trista shook her head slowly. "It may very well be true. But I can't understand how it could be possible. We know that the Sailor Scouts sacrificed their lives to combine their power with Sailor Moon's so that she could defeat Queen Beryl. They can't do that if they die before their time."

"There must be some angle that you're not considering," said Michelle.

"Or maybe Saturn was lying," Amarah offered. "She is our enemy, after all. Maybe she wants to trick us into being willing to sacrifice the Inner Scouts."

"However, if I can understand this, we might not have to devote all of our energy to protecting them," said Trista. "We may be able to concentrate harder on defeating our enemies instead."

"I still won't stand back and let the Inner Scouts die," said Michelle.

"I pray that it will not come to that," said Trista. "But if it does... we cannot let our feelings put the entire universe in jeopardy. We must do what we must do."

"She's got a point," conceded Amarah. "We might not like it, but we don't have a choice."

"Then we simply won't let it come to that," said Michelle.

"I hope we can afford to have that kind of optimism," said Amarah. "Ever since we got here, I've had the nagging feeling that we aren't in control of our destinies anymore. We're just being swept along in the flow of time, and we don't get to choose where we'll end up."

"It only means that we must work harder to steer ourselves toward a brighter future," said Trista.

"Then we'd better make the most of our time off," said Michelle. She sat down on the bed next to Amarah. "How are your legs feeling?"

"They're still a little numb," replied Amarah.

"Rubbing them a bit might help with that," Michelle suggested.

Trista abruptly stood up and cleared her throat. "I think I have important business to take care of at the Time Gate. I'll come back and get you when the next battle begins." She quickly left the room and closed the door behind her.

Amarah scowled at the door. "I wonder why she was in such a hurry..."

*************************************************

"Akane... don't worry. I'm going to get you out of there, no matter what it takes. I just... can't bring myself to kill the Sailor Scouts. It's not because they're girls – you know I can fight girls if I have to... but they're the good guys. They're trying to protect people, and here I am trying to kill them. How am I supposed to choose? What right do I have to say who lives and who dies?" Ranma looked up at Akane with tears in his eyes. "What would you do? Would you kill someone else to protect me?"

"She can't hear you," said Lina. Ranma spun around to face her. "Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you."

"I should have been paying attention," replied Ranma. "If I let you sneak up on me, anyone could have. That's a good way to die."

"No one's going to attack you here in the Negaverse," Lina reminded him. "It's okay to let down your guard a little. Open up to your emotions."

Ranma quickly turned back to the crystal, wiping his eyes with a hidden motion. "I wasn't emotional. Just came back here to look at her for a while. I'm only protecting her 'cause she can't protect herself. It's a martial artist's duty to protect the weak." He reflexively ducked and cringed from the anticipated violent tirade, but the crystallized Akane was in no condition to deliver it.

Lina sighed. "We both know that that's a lie. Why are you lying to yourself? If you'd just admit that you love her, killing the Sailor Scouts would be a lot easier."

Ranma shook his head. "No, it wouldn't. I know it's wrong, for any reason."

"But what about letting Akane die? Is that right? If it is, then why don't you just break that crystal right now?"

"I could never do that!" shouted Ranma.

Even though she had expected a reaction, Lina still took a step back in shock. She quickly regained her composure. "Then it looks like there's no right choice, is there?"

"Of course not," said Ranma. "So what am I supposed to do?"

"Easy," replied Lina. "When there's no right choice... you make the wrong choice."

Ranma turned back to Lina, expecting to see a smile on her face, but her expression was quite serious. "Was that supposed to be a joke?" he asked.

"No. I'm just stating the facts. There are times when you can't do 'the right thing' because it doesn't exist. Then you have to accept that there's no way to get out of your destiny and just take the best option that's open to you."

"That doesn't help me," said Ranma. "How am I supposed to weigh Akane's life against an entire world?" Lina shrugged sympathetically. "What about you? What would you do?"

"Me?" asked Lina. "You say that like I'm not in exactly the same situation as you."

Ranma smacked himself in the face. "Sorry. I forgot." He thought for a moment. "So, what are you going to do?"

"The same thing as you, I suppose. Think about it a little longer."

"Gee, that's helpful," said Ranma sarcastically.

"I can't make your choice for you," said Lina. "Well, I could always break Akane's crystal..."

"Don't even joke about that!" shouted Ranma.

"Who was joking?" asked Lina. "If you can't handle a decision like this, you're not going to get very far around here."

Ranma snorted. "Like you're one to talk. You've never had to choose between one person's life and an entire world."

"I have, actually," said Lina. "Many times."

"Hypothetically?"

Lina laughed half-heartedly. "I wish. No, I'm afraid I've faced the same decision you're facing now many times before, although it was my own fault every time."

"Well, what decision did you make?" asked Ranma.

Lina shrugged. "The only decision I could make, really. I suppose it's not quite the same as the decision you're trying to make now, since it was more a question of someone else's life against my soul. But I still have my soul."

"Who would force you to make a decision like that?" asked Ranma.

"Nobody," Lina admitted. "That's the worst part, really. Like I said, I brought it on myself. It's the trouble with being a precocious sorceress."

"What do you mean?"

"Maybe we'd better sit down. It's not a very pleasant story." Ranma moved away from Akane's crystal and seated himself in front of Lina. "Have you paid attention to the words of the Dragon Slave?" she asked once they had both settled themselves comfortably.

"A little," he replied. "I don't remember them well enough to repeat them."

"'I pledge myself to conquer all the foes who stand against the power you bestow in my unworthy hand.' Remember that part?"

"Yeah, I remember that. What about it?"

"Think about the words, Ranma. It's a pledge. Every spell has one. Black magic is ruled by beings of darkness: monsters, demons, and worse. In order to use that power, I have to make a pact with those monsters." She paused and let her gaze drop to the ground. "Usually it's enough just to use the spell, but sometimes, if the sorcerer isn't powerful enough to resist, the monster takes control to satisfy its lust for power. It holds the sorcerer's soul hostage in exchange for some service."

Ranma's hand clutched at his chest as if protecting his heart. "You sell your soul for power?"

"There are schools that teach the dark arts, and they carefully monitor the use of black magic. They never let students advance until they're powerful enough to resist the monsters controlling the more powerful spells. I was in one for a few months, but I got bored moving at their slow pace and ran away to learn magic on my own. I was able to control myself for the most part, but sometimes, when I cast a new spell for the first time, the monsters would win out. And then I had no choice but to do what they said."

"How could you do that? How could you willingly try to use magic you couldn't control?"

"Haven't you ever tried to use power that was out of your grasp, but you knew that if you kept trying, you'd eventually get it? Even if it killed you, you wouldn't give up until you learned it?" Ranma didn't know if he could count the number of techniques he'd learned that way. He merely nodded. "I knew I had the potential to be one of the greatest sorcerers of all time. Even my teachers said as much. I just wasn't willing to wait that long. I thought I could handle learning on my own. And every time I lost control, I figured out what I had done wrong so I could prevent it from happening again."

"But something else went wrong each time. And you lost control again and again..."

"I did learn a lot faster than I would have at the school. The school prevented its students from making mistakes, so the lessons took a lot longer to learn. When I could experiment on my own, I learned quickly from my own mistakes and made great progress."

"That doesn't excuse anything," said Ranma. "You knew the risks involved."

"You know what I was feeling, Ranma. You felt it too, didn't you? You were willing to risk your life to learn some of those techniques, weren't you?"

"How did you know?" Ranma asked before he could stop himself. How could she twist his thoughts around like that when he tried to argue with her? Akane always resorted to violence, but Lina...

"I thought so. I've seen techniques like the ones you used in my own world, based purely on life energy rather than magic. I also saw what it took to learn them."

Ranma shrugged. "Fair enough. But still, it was my own life I was risking, not someone else's. And usually because I didn't have a choice."

"You must think I'm incredibly selfish," said Lina. "I guess I can't really make excuses. Black magic is the family trade. It's run in my blood ever since I was born, so I was destined to learn it eventually. I couldn't stop once I'd started, no matter what the cost. Black magic is a destructive force that takes over your body and tries to take over your mind as well, like a drug. The thrill of that power is incredible. Once you've touched it, it's almost impossible to live without it. I had to keep using it, or else it would tear me apart. So I taught myself, and became the most powerful sorceress in history."

Ranma wanted to argue, but Lina's words echoed his own life so perfectly that he couldn't. True, the price had been greater in her case, but her motivation was no different from his. "So, what did the monsters make you do?" he asked.

"Odd jobs," replied Lina. "Razing shrines to the ground, burning books of white magic. White magic is no threat to monsters, since it's only defensive and curative magic, but they don't want the lords of white magic to gain power or followers. So they had me destroy artifacts related to white magic."

"And people," added Ranma, filling in the words that she had left out. "They made you kill white sorcerers, didn't they?"

Lina nodded, tears forming in her eyes. "I didn't want to do it. But by the time they commanded me to, it was too late to back out. They had my soul. If they wanted to, they could take control of my body and use their power through me to do anything they wanted. They could totally possess me and make my body a shell for their spirits, eradicating my soul completely in the process. Or, if I was lucky, they'd just devour my soul for power and leave my lifeless, soulless body to rot in some dark corner of the globe." Lina shivered, and Ranma wrapped his arm around her shoulders protectively. Lina leaned against his chest, taking solace in the embrace. "I've never told anyone about this. Not even Gourry."

"That's okay," Ranma whispered. "You don't have to say any more."

Lina shook her head, rubbing her temple into Ranma's chest, but he ignored the pain. "I... I want to tell you. I've kept these memories to myself for so long... I thought I would forget if I just tried not to think about them. But I'll never forget... their eyes. It was always those eyes, that last pleading look before... before... I..." She broke down, sobbing uncontrollably. Ranma started to pull away from her, but she threw her arms around him and held herself to his chest. Ranma slowly let his free arm encircle Lina and held her close as the memories flooded through her, each drawing fresh sobs.

Ranma hadn't had a great deal of experience with comforting crying girls, but he had a feeling that it wouldn't have helped him here anyway. This was a special circumstance, and Lina was extremely vulnerable right now, open enough to surrender herself completely to him. He suddenly felt closer to her than he ever had to anyone, and wanted more than anything to delve into this closeness as deeply as he could. He wanted to make her feel better, to ease her pain and calm her troubled mind, still her body's trembling, warm her frozen flesh, prove to her that her mistakes could be forgiven, that she could be appreciated for her value as a person without being judged for her past... that she could be loved.

Ranma's hand instinctively crept down Lina's back and came to rest on her buttocks. Lina's breath caught in her throat at the contact. She slowly raised her head, letting her gaze take in Ranma's muscular chest and compassionate face before settling on his eyes. The reflection of a face haggard from crying but still youthfully bright stared back, but Lina concentrated instead on the emotions that she could read in his eyes. He found her attractive, she could tell, but he was concerned about her feelings rather than her looks, or her body... despite what his hand was doing.

Lina realized that she was staring, but she couldn't tear her gaze from Ranma's face. Ranma stared back, seemingly as surprised as she was, but clearly in control of himself as he searched her eyes for hints of her feelings. Her eyes, moist with tears, spoke volumes of emotion to Ranma; not indignation at his touch, nor anger, but not acceptance either. This was a look of trepidation, fear bordering on terror; but also excitement, and one other emotion that Ranma couldn't quite place. 'Are you sure you want to do this?' her eyes asked him. 'We can never truly be together. We would only be hurting each other, and ourselves. But if you truly want to have me... then I am yours.'

Ranma slowly closed his eyes, shutting out the outside emotions and letting his body take over. Despite his lack of sight, Ranma could feel Lina close her own eyes and lift her head, pursing her lips. He bent forward to meet her halfway, his mouth tingling in anticipation. Her warm lips pressed against his, and he felt the warmth fill his body like a charge of ki energy that made him stronger rather than weaker as it surged through him. His lips and hers began to move in a complicated dance that sent ripples of pleasure down both of their spines, arousing them both to no small degree. The small mounds of Lina's breasts pressed against Ranma's chest as she moved, and he could feel the tiny nipples hardening through their shirts. The sensation made him begin to wonder why he'd never done this with Akane, but it didn't cross his mind to feel guilty. In that wonderful moment, he didn't even consider how betrayed Akane might feel.

Betrayal. That was the hidden emotion in those last moments before the kiss, the one that Ranma hadn't recognized at first. 'How could you do this to me?' the image of Lina's eyes in Ranma's memory whispered softly. 'I gave my heart to you, trusted you to hold me. How could you take me this way; rape my body and my soul with your compassion?' But the kiss went on, and Ranma had no doubt of what Lina's true emotions were now. The crystals were forgotten, and for all he cared, Queen Beryl could shatter them. Lina rolled over onto her stomach, and Ranma felt her entire body lying on top of his as he lay down on his back, pulling her with him. He knew that she could feel the stiffness between his legs, and her tongue slowly parted his lips in response. But, somehow, they both knew that it would go no further than this. However much passion they felt, the kiss would end the tryst, and they would have to quell their quickly beating hearts and return to planning their next attack. Ranma forced his consciousness above the kiss and began to wonder what he could possibly say when the kiss ended, when the two of them managed to pull their lips apart and stared at each other across the inevitable awkward silence. Would he manage to preserve the mood while still forestalling the need to act further on their emotions, or would he dash her heart to pieces with ill-chosen words, destroying her fragile spirit beyond repair? Was there even anything that could be said? Perhaps they would simply stare in silence until she reached up to touch him on the lips with a finger, imploring him to speak no further of it, and then turned and walked away, leaving a hole in his heart where she had briefly filled the one that hadn't been there before...

"Ranma, tell me something," said Lina, snapping him out of his reverie. His hands had begun to stroke lightly up and down her back of their own accord, and her head still rested against his chest. He wondered if she suspected why his heart was beating so quickly. He gazed longingly across her back at her shapely, smooth rump, and for the briefest of moments, knew with certainty that the reality would match the fantasy... but it wouldn't be right. He realized that it was now he who was trembling, and he carefully cleared his mind before replying, glad that she couldn't feel his erection from her current position.

"What –" he squeaked. He cleared his throat and began again. "What do you want me to say?"

"Anything," she replied. "It's too quiet. The loneliness is frightening."

Ranma let his breath out slowly. Though she hadn't said it, it was obvious that she wanted him to say something to reassure her. Only one story came to mind, and he plunged ahead, not thinking about what effect it might have on her. "I used to know a kid, way back when I was young. Before I got cursed, even. My pops had just left my fiancée Ukyo behind and run off with her father's cart, and then sold it in the next town for a tidy profit. He was like that, my pops. Always doing whatever he could for a fistful of cash, which he'd blow on food all in one day, and if I wanted any, I'd have to fight him for it. But that's not really important.

"Anyway, like I said, Pops and I settled down for a while a few months after Ukyo in this little town way out in the middle of nowhere. All it had was a few shops where you could buy the basic necessities, and a little farm. Pops and I stayed at that farm, and in exchange, Pops and I offered to teach the farmer's son Gendo some of our martial arts techniques.

"The kid caught on quick, mostly because I was teaching him what Pops had taught me. He was already strong from spending his entire life doing chores on the farm, and he had incredible agility from riding the animals and other odd jobs. I think Pops even said at some point that he wished I'd been brought up as a farmer, because Gendo was so easy to teach. So like Pops to say something like that. He'd have done anything to me if he thought it would make me a better fighter. He even tossed me into a pit of starving cats every day wearing nothing but fish."

"Knowing that you were afraid of cats?" asked Lina.

"No, that's where I got my fear. Whenever I have to face that fear directly, I turn into a cat myself – until somebody triggers my Jusenkyo curse. On the plus side, I can use the legendary Cat Fist while I'm in that state."

"I noticed," replied Lina. "Anyway, you were telling me about your friend Gendo."

"Yeah. He and I sometimes practiced on our own, inventing our own exercises for when Pops and Gendo's dad went out drinking together. We both learned a lot from each other during that time. That's when I refined my sense of balance. He showed me how he walked across the fences between fields without falling off, and I kept trying until I could do it too. Pops never thought balance was as important as techniques when he taught me. I owe Gendo a lot of my skills."

"He sounds like a really great guy," remarked Lina. "But something bad happened, didn't it?"

"I probably shouldn't be telling you this," said Ranma. "It'll only upset you."

"Tell me only what you want to," said Lina. "I'd like to know what happened."

Ranma sighed. What was it Doctor Tofu had told him once about depression, during one of his more solemn moments? 'Men seek advice in hard times, but women seek empathy. Tell a man what to do, but tell a woman that you know how she feels.' Something like that. He smiled. He didn't have any advice he could give to Lina anyway; if he had, he would have used it himself. Empathy, on the other hand, he had in excess. "All right. I'll tell you what happened to Gendo."

*************************************************

A muscular young boy leaned against a wooden fence, gazing out across the grassy field where the horses grazed. "I'll never get tired of this view," he said to himself. He breathed in a lungful of warm farm air, paused for a moment to feel the sun beating on his slightly tanned skin, then ducked a kick from behind and swept his leg in an attempt to trip his assailant. His opponent countered with a downward kick, which he avoided by leaping onto the fence.

"You're getting good, Gendo," said his opponent admiringly.

"That was an obvious attack, Ranma," replied Gendo.

"Well, I didn't want to take the risk of hurting you," said Ranma.

"Don't you have any faith in my abilities?" asked Gendo, demonstrating by backflipping and landing back on the fence.

"Not as much as I have in mine," replied Ranma. "I've been training my whole life, and you only started eight months ago."

"That's what you think," said Gendo. "I've actually been training just as long as you have, although not in martial arts specifically."

"All that farm stuff doesn't count," said Ranma.

"Oh yeah? Want to play a game of Fence Tag to prove it?" challenged Gendo.

"You're on!" Ranma leapt up to the fence, but Gendo was already well out of arm's reach and still running across the horizontal beams of the fence, stepping over the vertical posts without missing a stride. Ranma gave chase, only slightly less sure-footed than the farmer as he followed Gendo.

Gendo turned to face Ranma, running backwards on the fence as easily as he did forwards – a skill that he'd learned from Ranma. "Hey, slowpoke! What's the matter? I thought you were a martial artist!"

"Watch your mouth!" shouted Ranma. As Gendo rounded a corner, Ranma leapt ahead of him, barely holding his landing on one of the fenceposts, and tagged him. "You're it!" He immediately ran away, leaping from post to post rather than trying his luck on the beams. Gendo followed suit, taking to the posts with practiced ease.

Ranma halted in his tracks and spun around, leaping at Gendo with his foot extended. Gendo grabbed Ranma's leg and swung him to the side, throwing him from the fence. Ranma grabbed the fence with his hands and flipped back onto the beam. Gendo casually tagged Ranma's ankle with his toe, throwing Ranma off balance and sending him tumbling headfirst from the fence. "That's the game," he announced. "Nice try, though. A few weeks ago, a move like that would've caught me."

"I just need to get used to landing on these narrow fences," said Ranma. "If my balance was a bit better, you never could have knocked me off the fence."

"Just count yourself lucky I didn't knock you into the mud on the other side," said Gendo.

"Whatever. I'm just glad Pops isn't here. He hates seeing you get the better of me. He'd probably make me carry the horses around the farm again or something as punishment."

Gendo nodded and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Say... as long as our dads are out getting drunk, do you want to try out a new game?"

"Sure!" agreed Ranma. "What kind of game?"

Gendo smiled slyly. "Meet me in the barn in ten minutes, and I'll show you."

"The barn?" asked Ranma nervously.

"Don't worry. I'll get Frisky out of there before then." Gendo scratched his chin. "Actually, he can be pretty stubborn sometimes. Better make it twenty minutes. You might want to use the time to practice your fence-walking."

Ranma scratched his head as Gendo ran away across the fencetops. "Practice my fence-walking? What kind of game could he possibly have in mind?"

Twenty minutes later, Ranma stepped off of the fence near the barn. "Okay, I should be ready for anything Gendo can dish out now." He cautiously approached the barn. "F-Frisky? You in there?"

A bale of hay shifted to Ranma's left, causing him to scream. "Hey, relax," said Gendo as he emerged from the hay. "I told you, Frisky's in the house. You're perfectly safe."

Ranma breathed a sigh of relief. "All right. So what's this new game you've come up with?"

"Just follow me," said Gendo. He led Ranma into the barn and pointed to the ladder. "Up we go."

"Into the hayloft?" asked Ranma. "What's the point? There's nothing but hay up there."

"In the hayloft, sure. But what about ABOVE the hayloft?"

Ranma looked up. Just below the ceiling of the barn, a crisscrossing system of rafters could clearly be seen. "I get it. That's why you wanted me to practice my fence-walking skills. We're going to play Fence Tag on the rafters!"

"You got it!" Gendo began to climb the ladder.

"Are you sure that's safe?" asked Ranma. "It's pretty high up."

"We just have to change the rules a little. It's illegal to try to knock the other guy off."

"But what happens if one of us falls off accidentally?"

"Don't," replied Gendo. "I think you're good enough to manage yourself on top of the rafters."

"The fences are one thing," protested Ranma. "They're pretty low. If I fell from way up there, it would hurt!"

"I thought one of the first things you martial artists learned was how to fall," said Gendo.

"Falling is easy," replied Ranma. "That doesn't mean I want to do it!"

"Don't be such a baby," said Gendo. "This will be great practice! Just wait until your dad sees how agile you've become!"

"Can't he see how agile I am a bit closer to the ground?" asked Ranma.

Gendo leapt up, grabbed a beam, and flipped onto it. "Suit yourself," he said. "I'm getting some practice up here."

"Fine," said Ranma. "I'm coming up!" He leapt onto the wall of one of the stalls, then into the hayloft, and finally onto the rafters without a pause.

"See? Nothing to worry about! You've got enough balance by now that this should be a breeze."

"I just hope you don't get any breezes up here," said Ranma. "The wind might knock me off!"

"I don't see why you're so scared," said Gendo. "You have almost no trouble balancing on the fence any more, and these rafters are much wider." He paused. "You're not scared of heights, are you?"

"Heights aren't a problem," replied Ranma. "It's falling from them that scares me."

"You're not going to fall!" Gendo assured him, leaping to another beam. "Just try to forget how high up we are."

"Thanks for reminding me," muttered Ranma. He walked along the beam he was standing on until it ended at a ceiling support, then stepped across the gap to the perpendicular beam. "Hey, this isn't so bad." He leapt to the rafter that Gendo was on. "All right! Let's play Rafter Tag!"

Gendo reached for Ranma, but Ranma leapt out of reach. "This should be a bit more exciting than Fence Tag," he said as he chased Ranma around the rafters. "It's a smaller space, but the rafters are much closer together, so there's a lot more freedom of movement."

Ranma slightly overshot a landing, ending up with his feet halfway off the beam, and windmilled his arms in an attempt to regain his balance. Gendo quickly landed next to him and grabbed his shoulder, righting him. "Thanks!" said Ranma. "You saved my life!"

"Don't thank me yet," said Gendo. "You're it!" He leapt away, and Ranma chased him without pause. They continued that way for hours, as Ranma quickly overcame his fear and began to aggressively pursue Gendo across the rafters. The pace of their game quickened as they gained in skill and tried more and more daring maneuvers.

Finally, Gendo stopped and leaned against a vertical support to catch his breath. "That's enough for me," he panted. "Let's call it a day."

"Look out!" shouted Ranma. Having failed to anticipate Gendo's halt, he had taken one leap too many and was now on a crash course with Gendo. The farmer failed to dodge in time, and Ranma barreled into him, knocking him off the beam. He clutched at a nearby beam as he fell, but his sweaty fingers lost their grip, and he plummeted headfirst to the packed dirt floor below.

"GENDO!" shouted Ranma. He leapt down to the floor and knelt beside his friend. Gendo's neck was bent at an angle that Ranma was sure human necks weren't supposed to reach, and his breathing came in spurts. Ranma slowly reached out, afraid to touch Gendo for fear of worsening the injury.

Gendo opened his eyes and turned his head slightly to look up at Ranma. "I can't feel my legs," he said. "Or my arms... I can't really feel much of anything, except a lot of pain."

"Don't move," said Ranma. "You'll be okay. I'll go get our dads –"

"No use," interrupted Gendo. "By the time they get here, it'll be too late. Besides, there's nothing to do. I'm like an old horse with a broken leg. Best to just take it out into the pasture and..." He screwed up his eyes in pain and winced. When the wave of pain had passed, he opened his eyes again. "It's ironic, isn't it?"

"What is?" asked Ranma.

"You were afraid of getting hurt playing on the rafters, but I wanted to. And look at which one of us broke his neck." His laugh was broken by a series of hacking coughs.

"Don't try to talk!" urged Ranma. "Just hold on a little longer! Don't die!"

"We can't choose when we're going to die," said Gendo. "When it's time to go..." His eyes glazed over. "Ranma... Sorry about this. I shouldn't have... tried..."

"It's my fault," said Ranma. "I wasn't looking where I was going." He held Gendo's hand. "You can't die. You can't die when it's my fault. I'll kill you if you do." Their traditional joke somehow lost a bit of its humor under the circumstances, but Ranma still couldn't help cracking a smile. "That sounds stupid, doesn't it?" Gendo didn't reply. "Gendo? Gendo?! Wake up! Come on! Wake up!" He shook Gendo by the shoulders. Gendo's head flopped like a fish in response, and Ranma quickly dropped him and backed away toward the door. "G-G-Gendo..."

A shadow filled the barn door. "Ranma boy? Gendo? Are you in here?"

For once, Ranma was glad to hear his father's voice. "Pops! Something happened to Gendo! He's hurt!"

"Quit shouting, boy," said Genma and he staggered into the barn. "Gendo, what have I told you about pain? You've got to work through it, or you'll turn into a wimp! Is that what you want?" He grabbed Gendo's arm and hauled the boy to his feet. "Come on, walk it off!" Genma froze and pressed his fingers to Gendo's wrist. Sobriety instantly took hold of him, and his face paled. "By the gods... if the father finds out about this..."

"Pops? What are you –"

"Come on, boy!" shouted Genma, dropping Gendo's arm and grabbing Ranma's instead. "We're leaving!" He ran from the barn and fled the farm, dragging Ranma along.

"But we left Gendo behind!"

"Just forget about him, boy! We don't need a slacker like him weighing us down. It's the life of a martial artist to keep moving and never get tied down to one place, remember?"

Ranma nodded as he ran alongside his father, not even pausing as Gendo's father's scream pierced the air from behind them.

*************************************************

"And we never returned to that farm again," concluded Ranma. "I suppose in retrospect it should have been obvious why, but back then, I still believed that Gendo would be okay. I mean, Pops had already run away from Ukyo and her dad, and Ukyo had been fine. I thought maybe it was just part of my training or something. After a while, nothing Pops does surprises you anymore, you know?" Lina didn't respond. She was shivering against Ranma's chest. "Lina? You okay?"

Lina remained silent, as she continued to stare into the darkness at the memory that Ranma's story had dredged up from her own past. A young white priestess, no more than seven years old, lying across the altar in the shrine that her father had left her in charge of while he went into town to shop, her hand clutching the bleeding wound in her chest where Lina's Flare Arrow had just missed her heart, staring up at Lina and wordlessly begging for an end to the pain. The darkness had fled from Lina's soul, believing the job finished, but the girl was still alive. The wound, however, was beyond Lina's power to heal, and the girl's father would be too late in returning to save her. Lina tried to tear her eyes away, but the girl's suffering was hypnotic, and Lina could only watch in horror as the destruction that she had caused ran its course. The eyes... the dying stare, as life slowly faded from the body... the ultimate helpless despair... She forced her hand up and aimed it at the girl. "FIREBALL!" she shouted, and the magic gathered in her hand. The priestess mouthed a silent word of gratitude as the flames consumed her and burnt her body to ashes. Only when the last tongue of flame had extinguished itself could Lina finally turn away and leave the shrine, resolving never to cast the failed spell again until she was sure she could control it...

"Lina?" Ranma's voice snapped Lina back to the present. She blinked away the image and squeezed Ranma tightly.

"Ranma..." she whispered. "I'm sorry. I wasn't paying attention. I was thinking about all the suffering I've caused. Believe me, you have nothing to be ashamed of."

"I killed Gendo," said Ranma. "That's not nothing."

"It was an accident," said Lina. "You didn't do it on purpose."

"I thought you weren't paying attention," Ranma reminded her.

"You'd be amazed at what you can hear when you're not paying attention. Believe me, I know the whole story from personal experience. I've watched plenty of people die by my own hand, in cold blood. The only difference is that I could finish them off quickly. You had to watch while your friend died." She shuddered. "I don't envy you at all."

Ranma began to stroke the top of Lina's head compassionately. "We're murderers, aren't we?"

"Don't look at it that way, Ranma. We had a few accidents. That's all."

"It's not going to be an accident this time," said Ranma. "We're either going to kill the Sailor Scouts, or Akane and..."

"Gourry," supplied Lina.

"... are going to die." Ranma let his words hang in the air, as much for his own benefit as for hers, then sighed. "We're right back to where we started."

Lina chuckled. "That we are. But we know a lot more about each other."

"More than we ever wanted to know," said Ranma.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked.

"I may never see Akane alive again..." began Ranma.

"Don't say that," Lina put in reassuringly.

"I may never see her again," repeated Ranma. "Even if we do go through with killing the Sailor Scouts, there's no guarantee. Queen Beryl's the type who would probably kill her hostages anyway, once the job's done. And if she does kill Akane and Gourry, then we'll be left alone. Together. And..."

"What? What is it?"

Ranma lifted Lina's head until she was staring into his eyes. "I never thought I would meet anyone who understands me the way you do. Even Akane... sometimes I can't tell if she's trying to be nice or not, but something always seems to be pushing us apart. And she yells at me for everything that isn't my fault. She makes me feel so rotten, and sometimes I even start agreeing with her and blaming myself."

Lina put her hands on Ranma's chest and pushed herself away from him. "I think I know what this is building up to..."

"I want us to be friends," said Ranma. "I never had many of those, just a bunch of enemies and fiancées... and some people were both. Every time I think I've found a friend, Pops engages me to her or I accidentally offend her and she decides to try to kill me or something. But Pops isn't here, and I don't think I've offended you yet. I just... I've never felt this way about anyone before. I've never felt so close to anyone. We only just met, and here we are exchanging our life stories... I don't want this friendship to go bad the way all the others did."

Lina was stunned. "You've given this a lot of thought, haven't you?"

Ranma shook his head. "I've thought of you as a friend since this afternoon. But just now... I think I might be falling in love with you."

Lina leapt to her feet. She opened her mouth as if to say something, but no words came out. Instead, she felt warmth rising within her as a blush came to her face. That quickly gave way to the burning heat of anger, and she slapped Ranma in the face. "You pervert!" she shouted. "How dare you touch me like that!" She turned to storm angrily away – and bumped right into Queen Beryl on her first step, knocking the Negaqueen flat on her back. "Oh, god! Queen Beryl! I'm so sorry..."

"Silence!" shouted the fallen queen. She pushed away the helping hand that Lina offered and struggled to her feet, trying to regain her composure. Once she had calmed down a bit, Beryl continued in her favorite tone, the one that was calm but carried a venomous edge. "Your progress at killing the Sailor Scouts has failed to impress me."

"They had help!" protested Lina. "There are more of them than we thought, and the new ones have a lot more power."

"I am aware of that," said Beryl. "It is not you I am angry with." She calmly walked toward the crystal that held Akane.

"What are you doing?" demanded Ranma.

Queen Beryl stopped right beside the crystal and turned. "Ranma Saotome... you had the chance to kill Sailor Jupiter, and you failed. You gave her the chance to fight back when you could have crushed her easily. Apparently, your sense of honor means more to you than my orders." She turned her head to peer into the crystal. "Then what about her? Does this girl mean more to you than your foolish honor?"

Ranma, already on the verge of tears from Lina's slap, leapt to his feet. "Queen Beryl, I'm trying as hard as I can! But I can't kill a defenseless girl, no matter what! Not even to save Akane's life." He unconsciously clenched his fists. "I just can't!"

"Pity," said Beryl. "At least there are other girls I can threaten. You have quite a few girlfriends, don't you? Perhaps you'd be willing to fight for one of them."

"You wouldn't dare!" shouted Ranma. "Leave the rest of my fiancées out of this!"

"I'll do whatever it takes to secure your loyalty," said Beryl. "And if this one is useless to me... then I'll get rid of her." She stretched her arm out toward the crystal.

With a shout of "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Ranma leapt forward, reaching for Beryl's arm. Seconds passed like hours as physics took over Ranma's race to stop Beryl before she could touch the crystal. Every tiny movement caught Ranma's eye: Lina's face contorting in disbelief, Beryl's grin slowly displaying traces of shock. He could hear his own heartbeat, the only sound in the entire Negaverse as all three held their breaths in anticipation. The cold chilled him to the bone as he watched her hand draw ever nearer to the crystal's surface even as he grabbed her bony wrist, pulling her hand away as he slammed into her with full force. Now the silence was broken, for an instant, by the tiny "clink" of Beryl's long, twisted fingernail tapping the crystal as she fell to the ground for the second time. Then, silence again.

Ranma pushed himself away from Beryl in midair and landed on his back, not taking his eyes off the crystal for fear that it would shatter in the instant when he wasn't looking. Time was moving no more quickly now than it had during his leap. The moments passed, and the crystal showed no change. Finally, Ranma let out a sigh of relief.

CRACK! With a sound like splintering glass, a tiny crack appeared in the surface of the crystal where Beryl's fingernail had touched the fragile surface. Seconds later, the crack grew and split, forking outward. After another pause, each branch extended and split again, sending tiny tendril-like faults in all directions. The cracks grew toward one another, slowly forming a spiderweb of broken crystal that continued to expand as Ranma watched.

Beryl watched as well as she got to her feet. "You're quite fast," she said to Ranma. "But not fast enough. Perhaps this will give you some incentive. The crystal will take a few days to shatter completely. If you can kill even one of the Sailor Scouts by that time, I will transfer her into a new crystal. If not..." She left it at that and walked away.

Lina felt sick to her stomach as she watched Ranma fall to his knees before the decaying crystal, crying softly to himself. She stepped forward, seeking to comfort Ranma; then stopped, remembering what her last words to him had been before Beryl had appeared. Anything she did now would only make matters worse. He needed some time alone. He was no closer to making the difficult decision between Akane's life and those of the Sailor Scouts, but now his time was limited. Lina remembered the time that she had had to choose between Gourry's life and the rest of the universe, and the decision that she had made when her time had run out. It hadn't worked out as well as she'd hoped. "Ranma..." she whispered, so quietly that if Ranma heard it, he would probably think it was his own thoughts. "Don't let it get to you. Just do what you have to do." Ranma gave no indication that he'd heard her.

Lina watched him for just a little bit longer before she turned away and left him alone with the crystal. Even now, long after the excitement had ended, her heart was racing in her chest. Why? She had nothing to fear. After all, Beryl hadn't been angry at her. Perhaps she was afraid that, if she failed again, it would be Gourry's crystal slowly fragmenting – again – and nothing as simple as sacrificing her soul would save him this time. No. That couldn't be it. The heaviness in Lina's heart was sorrow – sorrow for Ranma, for the choice that he had to make, for the love that he felt toward... 

Lina gasped in shock. She had been about to fill in her own name, not Akane's. It was Ranma's feelings toward her that quickened Lina's pulse and threatened to draw her back to where he was crying to apologize, to hold him in his hour of need, to do whatever she could to make everything right... No! She couldn't do that, not now! She had hurt him enough for one day already. Those wounds would have to heal on their own.

But she wanted him near her, wanted to soothe his broken heart as he had soothed hers, to draw out his emotions as he had drawn hers out and help him overcome the barriers that separated him from himself, to do everything for him that he had done for her... The feelings were unmistakable. Whatever he felt toward her, she felt equally strongly toward him; there could be no denying it any longer. And yet she still loved Gourry with all of her heart, and judging by Ranma's despair, he still loved Akane. But Ranma's words had touched her heart, and she recalled them with a shudder. 'If she does kill Akane and Gourry, then we'll be left alone. Together.' He hadn't finished that thought, but she knew what he had been driving at. The thought raised a horrifying question, one that would probably keep Lina up all night worrying about it. Which love was real? Which one should she act on? In short, how would she make the decision that Ranma was now trying to make for himself – the decision that she, too, would soon have to make – between her love and the fate of a universe?

*************************************************

A figure appeared beyond the bars of its cage. It looked up, seeing the visitor through heavy-lidded eyes as well as the artificial screen of the helmet its "master" had given it. Something seemed wrong about the red-haired human with the bright red clothing and an ageless look about his face. Or rather, with everything else around him. The other caged ones did not move, some hanging in midair in defiance of what humans referred to as "gravity" – or perhaps merely in defiance of time. Yes, that was it. Its powerful senses told it that time had stopped, and that itself and this human – was he truly even human? – were the only beings immune to the effect.

"Come with me," said the human. "I will free you and give you a true test of your power." At last! A worthy opponent to fight. No, it was not this human, although he too would likely make a worthy opponent. Young human girls, with elemental powers like those of its usual opponents. What joy! All its existence, it had wanted to prove itself superior not only to its own kind – although it was loathsome to think of those human-tamed abominations as "its kind" – but to humans as well. Now, at last, it could battle the strongest of humans and be free of its captivity at the same time!

It nodded, causing the wires secured to its head to tense and flex with its movement. "Yes. Let us go. I will destroy the Sailor Scouts for you..." Somehow, as much as it loathed the word, it seemed appropriate for the human who would give it a new life. "... master." It smiled. Yes, this one was its master now, a master who would provide it all it desired. No more weak opponents, no more rules, no more restrictions. This would be the greatest battle of its life.


	9. 8: The Thrill of the Game

A General Time Paradox

Chapter 8: The Thrill of the Game

Ryoko stepped out of the portal into an empty park in the middle of Tokyo. She immediately found an unoccupied bench and lay down on her back. "Man, if I had to stay in that Negaverse any longer, I'd have lost what little sanity I have left!" She took a deep breath, enjoying the taste of the air. Birds sang in the treetops. Ryoko dangled her right arm over the side of the bench and brushed the grass with her fingers. "It feels good to get away from that creepy place for a while. You know, after being sealed in a cave for years, I thought I'd never be bored again. But the Negaverse...." She shuddered. "I can see why Beryl's so anxious to get out of that place."

She stared up into the sky, watching the clouds slowly moving through the lower atmosphere. Every single one looked exactly the same. "Tenchi..." she sighed. Her left hand stretched toward the sky as if to take hold of one of the Tenchi-shaped clouds and draw the real Tenchi down to Earth from it. She froze there, one hand touching the ground while the other reached for the clouds, and a single tear formed in her eyes.

She blinked the tear away and folded her arms firmly over her chest. Her mouth stretched open in a yawn. "I didn't get enough sleep last night," she decided. "I stayed up all night worrying about that Ranma and his girlfriend." She stopped suddenly. Even though she already knew it, her own words shocked her. "Am I going soft?" she asked herself. "What do I care if his girlfriend's going to die?"

Ryoko sat up. "He's probably still sitting there crying about it too. 'Oh, boo hoo. Akane's going to die because I'm too much of a sissy to kill a couple of girls.' What does he see in that girl, anyway? Even Ayeka was prettier than her... well, maybe not." She pictured Ayeka frozen inside a crystal and laughed. "Now that's something! I wonder if I can get Beryl to do me a little favor once we're all done with the Sailor Scouts... and then I can have Tenchi all to myself! Oh, Tenchi...."

The mental image of Ayeka changed ever so slightly, and it was Tenchi in the crystal. Ryoko immediately broke off that line of thought, but the image wouldn't go away. "Oh, Tenchi..." she moaned again, sorrowfully this time. "I'll save you... I promise."

A shadow passed over Ryoko, sending a shiver down her spine. She leapt to her feet and stared into the sky once again, searching for the source of the mysterious shadow. The clouds were still there, although they had moved slightly from their former positions, but the sky was otherwise empty. "That's strange," said Ryoko. "I thought something just flew overhead." She shrugged. "I guess being in the Negaverse for so long has started to mess with my mind. I'm not surprised." With that, she lay back down on the bench, this time to sleep until someone came to get her for the next battle.

*************************************************

A hand on her shoulder woke Ranko abruptly. "Huh? Akane?" she asked as her head snapped up from the desk.

"You'd better wake up, sleepyhead!" chirped Serena. "You don't want to miss today! We're having a half-day because of the big volleyball match between Crossroads and Grass Valley!"

"Fine," murmured Ranko. "Then I'll only sleep half a day."

"Didn't you get any sleep last night, Ranko?" asked Amy.

Ranko shook her head. "I was... you wouldn't understand."

"We'd like to be your friends, Ranko," said Amy. "Why don't you tell us about it? We'll help you in any way we can."

Ranko stared at Amy's short blue hair. "Someone close to me is about to die. I was up all night worrying about it."

Amy and Serena gasped, but Serena's smile quickly returned. "Well, you won't help them by worrying about it. You should cheer up! I'm sure you can feel better, if you just try!" She put her fingers at the corners of Ranko's mouth and pulled her lips upward into a smile. "See? You have a cute smile."

"Are you feeling okay, Serena?" asked Amy. "You're unusually energetic for this time of morning."

"I don't understand it myself," Serena admitted. "I feel like I got a good night's sleep for the first time in my life."

"Well, don't rub it in," Amy admonished her. "Ranko's feeling upset, so we should be nice to her and try to leave her alone."

"Say, have either of you seen Lita?" asked Ranko suddenly.

Amy and Serena glanced at each other. "She had a run-in with some muggers last night," explained Amy. "She wasn't hurt, but the experience was very traumatic for her. She's staying with a friend to recuperate."

Ranko nodded thoughtfully. It was an obvious cover story, but it would make sense to anyone who didn't know the truth. Still, Lita was no slouch in martial arts. Ranko would have bet on Lita to win against any number of muggers, even if Nabiki was running the betting pool. But Nabiki was still back in her own world, and Ranko had an important job to do that didn't involve betting in any way.

"Say, Amy," she began, but the door opened and Miss Haruna stepped into the room. The students all quickly took their seats. 'Oh well,' she thought to herself. 'I'll talk to her at the match. I know she's Sailor Mercury, and this time I won't give her a chance to fight back. I'll just pound her to a pulp.' She shook her head. 'Nah. Too violent. I'll have to try something a bit less brutal. Maybe strangling. I'll grab her neck in both hands and just squeeze....' Something about that mental image disturbed her. She just couldn't picture herself standing over Amy's dying body, her neck twisted at an impossible angle, just as Gendo's had – Ranko looked up just in time to catch Amy staring at her before she turned back to the front of the room. 'Don't think about it. I'll drive myself crazy trying to rationalize it. There's no choice. I have to kill her. I WILL save Akane... no matter what it takes.'

Meanwhile, at the front of the room, Amy cracked open her textbook and held it up to hide her worried expression from the teacher, who would undoubtedly express her concern over her favorite student if she thought anything was wrong. Something was, of course, but she didn't want to risk the attention in front of someone who might be one of her enemies. Ranko had also seemed worried about something, or at least far more thoughtful than she had been the previous day. Amy considered herself a good judge of character, and there was definitely something strange about the way Ranko was acting.

At the risk of missing the details of that day's lesson, Amy quickly began to put the pieces together in her mind. Ranko had been with Lita the night before, just before Lita had been attacked. That was suspicious enough in and of itself, although not enough so to make an accusation. Ranko was also a new student, who had shown up at the same time that the new enemies had. Not to mention that the color of her hair matched that of the sorceress, Lina Inverse, who had attacked the Sailor Scouts. True, there wasn't much other similarity, but Amy was quite familiar with the disguise magic that the Scouts used, and knew that changing hair color wasn't part of the magic. It all seemed to add up to one conclusion... but how could such a caring person be a deadly enemy? Things just weren't making sense. If only there were a way to be certain!

*************************************************

Amelia walked down the aisle to her seat without receiving so much as a glance from her classmates. She sat down with a heavy sigh. "They're all just immature," she told herself. "They don't know real beauty yet."

"Hey, Mina!" chirped a horny male voice from the front of the room. "How about we go out for tea after the match? I'm sure it would make you feel better about not being able to play!"

"No way!" shouted another. "Mina's going skating with me! You don't need your arms for that!"

Amelia seethed. Just this once, what she wouldn't give to be able to... Then again, nobody was looking in her direction, and without her talismans and jewelry to help focus her power, there was only one spell she could cast anyway. She closed her eyes and quietly chanted the full version of the simplest Black Magic spell. "Magic power flowing through my veins, become a destructive force. Channel your energy through me to deliver your judgment! Mini Flare!" She pointed her index fingers at the two boys, who were kneeling in front of Mina and fighting over which one would get to hold her hand while extending his invitation. Two tiny balls of dim energy shot from her fingers, dealing each boy a solid clout on the ear. They reeled at the impact and rubbed their ears, giving Mina an opportunity to sneak past them and get to her seat. The two boys recovered quickly and looked around, trying to figure out what had hit them.

Mina waved at Amelia with the arm that wasn't encumbered by a brace. "Hey, Amelia! Are you looking forward to the big match?"

"What big match?" asked Amelia, staring at the brace. And Mina's hair....

"Our volleyball team is playing Crossroads school today. Normally, as the captain of the team, I'd lead us to an easy victory, but I can't play today, so everyone's looking forward to some really competitive play."

"I hadn't heard anything about it," said Amelia, trying her best to show her disinterest.

"Well, it's getting us out of classes early today so that everyone can go watch the match."

Amelia perked up instantly. "Early dismissal?"

"That's right! It's a field trip for anyone who wants to go. I'll be going to cheer on the team, of course. Why don't you come along too? It'll be fun!"

"I'll think about it," said Amelia. "By the way, what happened to your arm?"

Mina rubbed the brace. "I was practicing yesterday for the match, and I sprained my arm. I can still get around with this brace on, but I'm not supposed to play any sports."

"That's unfortunate," said Amelia. "You put yourself out of the match training for it." Of course, there was more than one way to injure an arm... although if it was what she suspected, it would require a cast, wouldn't it? Nobody could walk around with their arm sliced in half and no more than a brace holding it together, could they?

"Yeah," sighed Mina, and for a second Amelia thought she was answering her unasked question. "Oh well. It's just one of those things that happens. I just pushed myself a bit too hard. No use getting upset about it."

"Sure," agreed Amelia. "I guess you have to look on the bright side. It could have been worse."

Mina laughed. "You don't know the half of it."

"Oh?" asked Amelia, feigning surprise. "What do you mean?"

Mina paused, realizing her slip. "Nothing, really. Just that so many people are a lot less fortunate than I am. I feel sorry for them."

Amelia nodded thoughtfully as the entire room suddenly fell quiet. Everyone was staring at the dark-haired figure at the front of the room. Without a sound, she sighed and slowly trudged down the aisle to her desk, as her classmates scrambled out of her way. One glance at her face told Amelia why. The cheer that had brightened Stephanie the day before, as well as anyone around her, had been replaced by a deep sorrow. Stephanie's shoes made no sound as they struck the floor heavily, with all the weight of her depression, as a poet might put it. She slid into her seat, causing the chair legs to scrape noiselessly across the floor.

"Geez, what happened to you?" asked Amelia, barely able to find her own voice. "You look like your entire family just died!"

Stephanie produced a pad of paper and a pencil from her backpack. The pencil made no sound as she wrote. "DON'T KNOW. DOCTOR HAS NO IDEA. CAN'T MAKE ANY SOUND." She stamped her foot demonstratively. "NEXT WEEK I START AT INSTITUTION."

"Institution?" asked Mina. "You mean like those special schools for kids who can't talk?"

Stephanie nodded, as a few tears ran down her cheeks through the worn channels left by countless others. "PARENTS EMBARRASSED BY ME, DON'T WANT ME IN NORMAL SCHOOL. WISH I COULD SAY MORE BUT PROMISED NOT TO."

Amelia felt like crying too. She'd almost managed to forget the fate that she'd forced on Stephanie. 'It could be worse,' she reminded herself. 'She could be dead right now.' Amelia placed a hand on Stephanie's shoulder. "Just hang in there," she said. "You'll be okay."

"HOPE SO," wrote Stephanie. "BUT DOUBT I'LL EVER GET OVER IT."

"I'll do what I can to help," said Amelia. "I promise."

Stephanie's response was short and curt. "WHY?"

"Why?" repeated Amelia. "Because it really hurts me to see you like this. And I feel responsible for it. You know... I show up one day, the next day you can't say a word. Weird, isn't it?"

"Yeah," agreed Mina. "Maybe a little too weird."

Amelia opened her eyes as wide as she could. "You mean... you think I really had something to do with this?"

"I really don't know what to think," Mina admitted. "There have been too many coincidences around here lately."

"Are you trying to start something?" asked Amelia.

Stephanie waved her notepad between the two bickering girls to get their attention. Amelia and Mina gasped; for a second, Amelia found herself wondering why she hadn't heard Stephanie writing her message. "PLEASE DON'T FIGHT OVER ME. IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT."

"She's right," said Mina. "Blaming people isn't going to help Stephanie."

Amelia nodded. "It's okay. We're probably all a little stressed out. I just moved, you sprained your arm, and Stephanie can't talk. We just need to relax." Stephanie and Mina nodded, and Amelia saw her opportunity. "Say, you know what would really help us relax? An afternoon together, maybe over a great big ice cream sundae, on me! What do you say?"

"SORRY, CAN'T," wrote Stephanie. "GO WITHOUT ME."

"What about you, Mina?" offered Amelia.

"I'll have to wait and see if I can," said Mina. "The team might want to go out to celebrate, and as their captain, I really should go with them."

"Sure, I understand," said Amelia, doing her best to look hurt.

Mina gave Amelia the warmest, most apologetic smile she could manage before turning back to the front of the room. Not only was Stephanie's silence a reminder of the effect of the war on innocent people, but Amelia was beginning to seem more and more like an enemy in disguise. Something seemed suspicious about the eagerness of her invitation. She'd been so disappointed when Mina declined, but hadn't seemed to care at all about Stephanie... almost as if she didn't want Stephanie along at all! But she really didn't seem like the type of person who could work for Queen Beryl. She was too caring, for a start. Yet something just didn't add up. It was like trying to figure out what the square root of 144 was and coming up with completely the wrong number! She just had to answer the question...

"Hello? Miss Aino?" Mina snapped to attention as the teacher's voice finally registered. "Are you still with us?" He leaned intimidatingly over her desk.

"Um, yeah," said Mina, rubbing her head sheepishly.

"Good. Then perhaps you'd like to answer the question."

Mina shrugged and took a wild guess. "Twelve?"

The teacher looked shocked. "That's correct! Well, it's nice to see that something is getting through to you, even if you can't be bothered to stay awake."

"Just excited about today's match, sir!" said Mina, flashing the prize-winning smile that never failed to make any man forgive her instantly.

With a final disapproving shake of his head, the teacher turned back to the board to continue his lecture. Mina immediately sagged in her desk, heaving a relieved sigh, and fished her notebook and pencil out of her backpack. Pretending to be interested in the lesson, she returned to her prior pondering... only to realize that she'd lost her train of thought. Oh well. She couldn't afford to lose her focus in class again anyway. If it was important, she'd remember eventually.

Amelia leaned back in her desk, trying to avoid staring at Mina. The blonde seemed to be afraid of her, as if she knew who Amelia really was. Not that Amelia had gone out of her way to maintain a flawless disguise. In fact, it was surprising that Mina hadn't figured out exactly who she was by now. Unless... Amelia's eyes darted to the side, where Stephanie sulked silently in her desk. She'd made one mistake already, and another mistake would doom another innocent girl to the same fate, or worse. This time, she would have to be completely sure that Mina was in fact Sailor Venus before she attacked. And she knew just how to do it.

*************************************************

Chronite appeared right behind Queen Beryl as she peered into a crystal nearly her own size. "I return, my Queen," he said with a bow.

"So I see," she answered flatly, not bothering to turn around.

"Are you enjoying your crystal collection, my Queen?" asked Chronite. "You haven't fallen in love with that swordsman we captured, have you?"

"I gave up on love long ago," replied Beryl. "Just look at where it got me..."

Chronite knew better than to follow up on that statement. Besides, the blue glow that the crystal was casting on Beryl's front told Chronite who was actually trapped inside. "Do you find our latest acquisition that interesting, my Queen?"

"She has a great deal of power," said Beryl. "And in such a young body... what a waste."

"You don't sound happy, my Queen."

Beryl sighed. "What would I have to be happy about? My invasion is a failure, your chosen warriors are useless, and my own body is wasting away before my eyes. Even my life as a retainer in Queen Serenity's court was far more pleasant than this!"

Chronite's jaw dropped. "My Queen! Surely, you cannot mean..."

Beryl angrily wiped a tear from her eye before whirling on Chronite. "How dare you, Chronite! How dare you remind me of that!"

Chronite backed away, holding his hands in front of himself as if terrified. "I did no such thing!" he protested. "I merely –"

"You will forget about this entire exchange!" ordered Beryl.

"Very well," said Chronite, with a slight bow. "Although..." He paused to consider something, finishing with a shake of his head. "No, it probably wouldn't suit you."

"What wouldn't suit me?" asked Beryl curiously.

"It's nothing," replied Chronite. "Forget I mentioned it."

"I'll decide what will or won't suit me, Chronite!" said Beryl. "Now, spit it out! What are you plotting?"

"Very well," said Chronite with a smile. "How would you like to be young and beautiful again?"

"And give up my power?" Beryl laughed. "Even I know the negative effects of turning time backwards."

"I was not talking about reverting your body to an earlier age," said Chronite. "That ability is still beyond me." He pointed to Momiji's crystal. "My idea was to give you HER youth and beauty."

"You mean to place my mind within her body?" asked Beryl, impressed. "That certainly sounds interesting..."

"Better yet," said Chronite, "I could place your entire soul into her body. You would retain all of your current power, and the power within her body would also become yours. Her own soul would remain in place, but defunct, unable to act or even think while you are in control."

"I see..." Beryl scratched her chin. "And you believe you can do that?"

"Of course!" replied Chronite proudly. "The process is simple and painless."

"And what would become of my body in the meantime?" asked Beryl.

"Anything you wish," said Chronite. "Do you not have a vault that can be opened by your hand alone? Your own body could be stored there, safe from all who might seek to harm it."

"To have a young body, with all the power I've gathered over these years..." Beryl's brow furrowed. "But I know you too well, Chronite. You would not offer such a thing unless you personally gained something from it."

"Nothing escapes you, my Queen," said Chronite with a begrudging grin. "In fact, I suffer merely seeing you in such a depressed state. I can offer only this small happiness to –"

"Stop your sniveling!" snapped Beryl. "You still take me for a fool, don't you? I know all too well that you dislike me. In fact, you are plotting to destroy me and take my throne for yourself, are you not?"

"My Queen, I would never dream of plotting against you!"

"Then tell me the truth, Chronite. What do you hope to gain by giving me this body?"

Chronite sighed. "I fear the power of the Blue Seed within her. It might well have the power to break free of the crystal, and if she escapes, she would undoubtedly turn against us. However, her power is too valuable to waste by returning her to her own world. Therefore, I considered the compromise of placing your soul into her body, thus taking control of the power of the Blue Seed. However, I anticipated your reluctance to agree to the plan, which is why I rejected it myself."

Beryl nodded slowly. "I see... it is a wise and thorough assessment. We must certainly find a way to harness this power for ourselves."

"We could simply destroy her body and let the energy be absorbed by the Negaforce," suggested Chronite. "Surely you can trust me enough to do that."

Beryl bit her lip as she studied Momiji's body once more from head to toe. "Is that wise? What effect would the power have, once free of her body?"

"I cannot predict that," replied Chronite. "The mitama bonds with living beings, corrupting their bodies. Alone, it has no power. Thus, once removed from her body, it would try to bond with a nearby entity. If we are careful, we may be able to coerce it to bond with the Negaforce itself."

"And then?"

Chronite shrugged. "I don't know. The powers we're dealing with are outside my domain."

"Really?" Beryl beamed smugly. "I didn't think your domain had an outside."

"Mock me if you like," said Chronite, holding his head up proudly. "I can swallow my pride."

Beryl frowned. "Then you think it might not be safe to destroy her?"

"I do. But if my Queen wishes it... I merely think it such a shame that I must destroy such a young, beautiful body. I may seem callous, my Queen, but I hate killing young, beautiful girls. I always regret the loss of such youth and beauty. It feels like such a waste, does it not? If only that youth and beauty could have been given to one more deserving, they could benefit that person greatly..."

"And who more deserving than myself?" asked Beryl, not quite as idly as it sounded.

"My Queen?"

Queen Beryl straightened up proudly. "I have decided. I will take this body for myself. Transfer my soul into her body." She rubbed her hands together eagerly. "I will be young and beautiful once again!"

Chronite smiled. "It shall be done, my Queen." The crystal crumbled to dust, leaving Momiji's sleeping form hanging in midair. "You may feel a bit disoriented at first, but that is normal..."

In the shadows, Sailor Saturn shook her head sadly. "Beryl is a fool," she whispered to herself. "So easily manipulated. Whatever Chronite's plan is, she is blinded to it by the promise of youth and beauty." She looked down at her own body. "Youth and beauty... are worthless."

*************************************************

The server for the Grass Valley girls' volleyball team threw the ball into the air amid the screams and cheers of the capacity crowd in the Crossroads gymnasium. As it fell back downward, she slammed it with her palm, sending it in a low arc over the net. The cheers doubled in volume as a Crossroads blocker leapt up to intercept the ball and pound it back to the Grass Valley team's court. A forward bumped the ball into the air, and her neighbor spiked it right between the members of the Crossroads team. The ball bounced on the floor, and the entire Grass Valley team leapt into the air in celebration.

"Way to go!" cheered Mina from the bench. "That's the way to do it!"

"The score is now thirteen to ten," announced the referee. "Grass Valley has the serve."

"Oh no!" shouted Serena from the stands. "Our team's in trouble! What are we going to do?" She leapt to her feet. "Hey team! Start scoring some points already and beat them!"

"Please, sit down, Serena," urged Amy. "You're not helping the team's morale that way."

"But we have to do something!" Serena grabbed Ranko by the shoulders. "Come on, Ranko, show your support!"

Ranko took a sip from the cup in her hand. "Whoopee," she said without enthusiasm.

Amy turned to her with a concerned look on her face. "Is something wrong, Ranko? You seem to be a bit distracted."

"Everything's fine," replied Ranko. Then, an idea struck. "I'm just kinda worried about the test tomorrow. I only just got here, and I'm really far behind. I could use some help studying." If anything would pique Amy's interest, Ranko thought, it would be academics.

"Well, you've come to the right person!" said Serena, clapping Amy on the back. "Amy's a whiz at that studying stuff!"

"There's nothing to it, really," said Amy, trying to be modest.

Ranko clasped her hands together. "Oh, could you please help me study, Amy? I could really use your help!"

"I don't know. I have important plans tonight." Amy couldn't tell Ranko the real reason she couldn't help her, of course. If she was correct, and Ranko actually was an enemy, then voicing her suspicion would only confirm that she was a Sailor Scout. And if not, then it would hurt Ranko's feelings. Either way, it was best to simply make an excuse and avoid spending time alone with Ranko.

Serena, however, refused to leave well enough alone. "Oh, come on, Amy! Ranko really needs your help! What's so important that you can't help out a friend?"

Fortunately, at that moment, the volley ended. "Crossroads School has the serve!" announced the referee.

Serena leapt in the air, cheering and waving beautifully decorated fans. "Yay! Yay! Go, team!" Ranko and Amy stared at her, relieved sweatdrops forming on their foreheads.

"Is she always like that?" asked Ranko.

Amy nodded. "She really is a very nice person... just a little confused."

"So, are you sure you can't make it tonight?"

"I'm terribly sorry," said Amy with a slight bow. "I'll be doing some vital research tonight, and I simply can't put it off." That, at least, was true. She would be researching her new enemies further, trying to learn all she could about them, as well as finishing her research on the powers of the Sailor Scouts.

Ranko sighed sadly. "Oh well. I'll just have to make the most of it on my own. Another time, perhaps?"

"Perhaps," agreed Amy. She returned her attention to the court below. "Oh, look! What a remarkable play!"

"Not bad," admitted Ranko. "They're a pretty good team. They've all got plenty of skill. But the Grass Valley team work better together. Their players aren't as strong, but they can cover for each others' weaknesses."

Amy hummed. "That's a good point. The stronger team is the one that functions as a team rather than a group of individuals."

"I thought you didn't like watching sports, Ranko," Serena admonished her.

Ranko shrugged. "Sports aren't my bag. People, on the other hand, are always worth watching."

"Huh?" Serena blinked. "I don't get it!"

Ranko started to wave off the issue, but then another idea came to her. "Well, let me give you an example. Amy's really smart, so most people would think that she doesn't like to exercise. But I bet she gets plenty of physical activity." She glanced inquiringly at Amy.

"Well, I do enjoy swimming," Amy admitted. "I find it very relaxing, and it's good for the entire body."

'Water,' thought Ranko. 'Sailor Mercury's element.'

"Wow, that's pretty good!" said Serena. "What about me? What can you tell about me?"

Ranko studied Serena from head to toe. "Well... you may not do very well in school, but it's not because you don't try. You throw yourself into everything you do and try your hardest, even when everything looks hopeless. You'll do anything you can to help your friends, no matter what it costs you."

"Wow! You're incredible!" said Serena. "It's like talking to the Psychic Hotline! How do you do it?"

Ranko shrugged. "What can I say? I'm a good judge of people." It was a better explanation than 'I was actually describing the Sailor Scouts,' at any rate. Maybe there really was more to Serena than met the eye... "Say, Serena... Since Amy can't help me study tonight, want to get together and see if we can figure out some of the material?"

"Study together?" Serena's faced paled, and she quickly waved her hands to decline. "No, no, I don't think so! I've got a hot date with Darien tonight!"

"Since when?" asked Amy.

"Well, Darien doesn't know it yet," said Serena, "but we always go out on a date the night before a test! It's a tradition!"

"And you wonder why you do so poorly on tests..." said Amy, shaking her head.

Ranko sighed and sucked the last of her drink through the straw. "I've got to go throw my cup away. I'll be right back." She climbed over everyone between herself and the edge of the bleachers, then leapt down to the floor and made her way to the opposite side of the gym, skirting around the court while the players rotated positions in preparation for the next volley. There was a trashcan near her own side's bleachers, but Ranko was more interested in the redheaded girl sitting in the front row of the bleachers devoted to the supporters of the Grass Valley team. She tossed her cup into the trashcan and took the empty seat next to Amelia.

"What are you doing over here?" asked Amelia. "I thought you'd be on the other side, supporting your own school's team. You're behind by two, and we just got the serve back."

"I don't really care who wins," said Ranko. "I just noticed you staring at your team's captain the whole time."

Amelia nodded. "I'm pretty sure that girl is Sailor Venus. See the brace on her arm?" Ranko nodded. "I think that's covering the scar she got yesterday when her arm was cut in half."

Ranko examined the brace as best she could from a distance. "Could be," she said at last, "but if she expects that brace to do her any good, the Sailor Scouts must have incredible tolerance for injuries."

"I'm going to find out the truth once we win the game," said Amelia. "While everyone's distracted, I can use a spell to break it off."

"Sounds like a plan," agreed Ranko. "I hope she is Sailor Venus. She's my only hope, at the moment. I think I've found two more Sailor Scouts, but they've both got 'plans' tonight. I think they're beginning to suspect me. I'll probably just have to track one of them down and confront her as Ranma..." She trailed off as she realized that Amelia wasn't even listening. She was chanting quietly to herself as the players volleyed the ball back and forth over the net.

"Magic power flowing through my veins, become a destructive force," she chanted quickly, trying to finish the spell before the volley ended. "Channel your energy through me to deliver your judgment!"

Ranko blinked in surprise. "You're going to cast a spell here, in front of everybody?"

A tiny ball of almost invisible light appeared above Amelia's hand. Ranko had to squint to see it, and if she hadn't known what to look for, she doubted she would have been able to see it even then. Still, Amelia curled her body over the ball, hiding it from the fans in the bleachers as she watched the volley play out. Or rather, watched Mina Aino watching the volley play out...

Everything seemed to happen at once. A Crossroads player missed the ball, and it bounced off of her foot. The entire Grass Valley cheering section leapt to their feet, hooting and hollering. Mina leapt up as well, punching the air with both arms. Amelia whispered "Mini Flare!" and the ball of light in her hand darted out to strike the brace on Mina's upraised arm. The brace split right down its length and fell off. Mina quickly clutched her right arm to her chest, cradling it in her left. On the opposite side of the gym, Amy leapt worriedly to her feet before catching herself and sitting down again, after casting a single nervous glance at Ranko. The other Grass Valley girls clustered around Mina, examining her arm. One of them called for a stretcher, but Mina waved away the offer with her good arm. A member of the medical team came over to examine her anyway, but after a few pokes and prods, announced that her arm was fine, and she wouldn't even need to replace the brace. He gave the referee a thumbs-up, and the players returned to the court.

"Game point for Grass Valley!" announced the referee.

Amelia waited until the serve before speaking. "Did you get a good look at her arm?" she asked.

"That was a pretty noticeable scar," said Ranko. "But other than that, it's in perfect condition..."

"Then the Sailor Scouts have healing powers of some kind," said Amelia. "It makes sense, if you think about it. Their fighting power isn't much, so I expect they get hurt a lot. They'd need to be able to recover quickly."

Ranko nodded. "It seems to work about the same way in my world. Injuries never last."

"Yeah, but that's comic relief. We're talking about a serious injury - one that would have cost a normal person their arm - healing in less than a day."

"Impressive," agreed Ranko. "Sailor Mars will probably be up and around soon, at that rate."

"Then we'd better get our job done quickly," said Amelia. "Today, after the game. I'll get Sailor Venus alone, no matter what it takes. You keep the others busy while I take care of her."

"Right," said Ranko with a nod. "Piece of cake."

The ball sailed high over the net toward the Grass Valley team's back rank. The girl who stood in its path ducked, letting the ball hit the ground behind her. "Out!" shouted the referee. "Grass Valley wins the game!" The Grass Valley spectators' cheering reached a new volume, as they began to charge down from the bleachers to swarm their team's side of the court.

"I feel sorry for those girls," Ranko shouted over the deafening cheers.

"Yeah, they really tried hard," agreed Amelia. "But they still lost."

"I was talking about the Grass Valley team," said Ranko. "Sure, they won, but they won because of their opponents' mistake. It's a lot more satisfying to win because of your own skill."

Amelia stared back in confusion. "Winning is winning, right? Who cares how you do it? As long as you beat the other team, you're the winner!"

Ranko sighed. "Maybe... but if you're not satisfied with your victory, it's an empty victory. It's the same when you fight an opponent who can't fight back. There's no point to it."

"Are you getting depressed on me again?" asked Amelia. "We already discussed this! We don't have a choice about fighting the Sailor Scouts! We're not doing it for the thrill of the fight; we're doing it to save the people we love!"

"Whatever." Ranko pointed to the bench, where Mina was still sitting, unwilling to join the mob on the court and risk injuring her arm. "Here's your chance to get her alone." She stood up. "You do what you have to do, Lina. I'll keep the other Scouts away from you until you're done."

A pair of hands grabbed Ranko's shoulders from behind. "Hey, now here's a nice looking girl!" said the obnoxious boy, one of those whom Amelia remembered hitting on Mina that morning. "Amelia, who's your cute friend?"

"I saw her first!" argued his friend. "You can ask Amelia on a date! I want to ask this one!"

"No way!" said the first. "You date Amelia!"

Amelia's hands clenched into angry fists, but Ranko put her own fists to use, pounding both boys in the jaw. "Get a life, clowns," she said. "I'm really not your type." They hastily backed away until they deemed it safe to turn tail and run from the building.

"That seemed a little harsh, Ranma," said Amelia.

"They deserved it, the creeps," replied Ranko, brushing herself off. "Why am I always the target for every pervert in every neighborhood I go to?"

"I guess it's because you're as good-looking as a girl as you are as a guy," said Amelia. She immediately blushed. "I think I'd better go talk to Mina now..."

"Yeah, sure," said Ranko. "Good luck." She left to make her way through the crowd to the far side of the gym, where the disappointed Crossroads fans were filing out of the building.

Now alone, Amelia walked down to courtside to sit next to Mina. "Hey, good game," she congratulated the team captain.

"Yeah, they were great," agreed Mina. "I feel bad for not being able to play, but the team doesn't revolve around me. I think it's good for them to play a game without me every once in a while."

"Sure. Even if a team has a really strong member, the weaker members have to contribute, or else they won't be playing to their full potential, right?"

Mina looked sadly toward her teammates, who were being carried out of the gym on the shoulders of their adoring fans. "Looks like I won't be part of the celebration after all..."

"Well, you've always got your friends," Amelia reminded her. "My offer still stands. Ice cream sundaes for two, on me."

Mina smiled at her. "Thanks, Amelia. You really are a great friend."

Amelia chuckled quietly, with no trace of humor. "Yeah, I do what I can. Let's just go get those sundaes."

"Is something wrong?" asked Mina. "You seem a little...."

"Have you ever had to do something you really didn't want to do?" asked Amelia.

"Like what?" Mina asked curiously.

"Like... betray a friend."

Mina shook her head vigorously. "I'd never do anything to hurt one of my friends in any way!"

"I thought so." Far from being relieved, Amelia seemed disappointed by Mina's declaration.

"Why do you ask, Amelia?"

"Oh, no reason," said Amelia dismissively. "Just one of those idle questions, you know?"

Mina didn't press the issue further, but Amelia's question got her to thinking. Such a strange question couldn't have been as idle as Amelia claimed, but what would bring her to ask it? She seemed really upset about it, so maybe.... Mina nearly gasped. That was it! Amelia must have been betrayed by a trusted friend recently, and that was why she'd asked if Mina would do the same thing. Maybe that was even why Amelia had changed schools in the first place. And to think Mina had considered going out with the team to celebrate, when Amelia needed her so badly.... "Don't worry, Amelia. I'll always be your friend, no matter what."

Amelia's smile seemed forced, although it was just as warm and friendly as Mina's. "Thanks, Mina. I really mean it." Amelia silently cursed herself for letting the emotions get to her, but reminded herself that it was all part of her ruse to prevent Mina from suspecting anything until it was time to strike. She WOULD keep her head, and she WOULD attack as soon as the opportunity presented itself... and she WOULD kill Sailor Venus. This time, she had the right target, without a doubt. She would not fail.

*************************************************

As the spectators cleared out of the gym after the game, they studiously yet unconsciously avoided looking up into the uppermost corner of the bleachers, where the last three women remained after even the last of the adults had left the building. It wasn't that the women seemed out of place - two of them were only old enough to be high school students, and though the third looked for the most part to be not much older, her face had an ageless look to it, as if she had lived since the beginning of the Universe. They were simply beneath notice, through no small part of the oldest one's power.

Trista stared across the empty gym at the volleyball net, which had yet to be taken down. "It's amazing how similar this game is to the battle we are fighting."

"What do you mean?" asked Michelle.

"Humans live to compete against one another," replied Trista. "It is part of their nature. When they are not fighting, they invent games such as volleyball to satisfy their need to dominate. But the battle is just as much a sport as any other, as those we have been watching are discovering. It takes teamwork to win, and even the weakest member has something to contribute. Not only that, but each side seeks satisfaction from winning through their own power, rather than capitalizing on a mistake by their opponents."

"I thought only the evil ones did that," said Amarah. "They're the ones who always hold back, hoping for a 'good fight,' and give us a chance to figure out how to beat them."

"And does that really hold true in sports?" asked Michelle.

"Of course. Think about the chess player who allows his opponent to take back an ill-made move."

"That's not exactly a sport," said Amarah. "But I see what you mean."

"Isn't that just courtesy, though?" asked Michelle.

"Those who fight only to defend themselves often give their enemies a fighting chance out of honor," said Trista. "Those who fight seeking to harm others, on the other hand, do it because they seek a thrilling battle. The same applies to any contest, although the dividing line between the two reasons is not always as clear."

"Well, I never hold back," said Amarah, flexing a fist. "Except for this mission, when we can't use our full power. It makes it a lot harder to fight."

"Speaking of our mission," Michelle interrupted, "what did you make of that girl who left with Venus?"

"Bad news," said Amarah. "I'm pretty sure she had something to do with that brace breaking off."

Trista nodded. "That was magic from another dimension. That girl must have been Lina Inverse, the sorceress."

"Then what are we waiting around here for?" asked Michelle, standing up. "We have to stop her before she attacks Sailor Venus!"

Trista shook her head, placing a hand on Michelle's shoulder. "No. Remember, we can't let the Inner Scouts know of our existence. If we attack a seemingly innocent girl, Sailor Venus will think we are her enemies and try to confront us. We'll have to follow them and let Lina make the first move."

"And if that first move kills Sailor Venus?" asked Amarah.

Trista sighed. "We are like the coach on the sidelines. We know what must be done to win, but if we become too directly involved in the conflict, our influence will cost us what he have worked so hard for. Even if we see our side losing, we must never overstep our bounds."

Amarah blinked. "Is everything an analogy to you?"

"We don't have time for your sarcasm right now, Uranus!" Michelle said quickly. "Sailor Venus' life is in danger, and every second counts!"

"Yes," agreed Trista. "As limited as our actions are, we must act in haste. Transform quickly and move out!" They pulled out their transformation wands and donned their Sailor Scout uniforms in preparation for what would be their most difficult battle yet.

*************************************************

It could feel the power growing... its new opponents were gathering their strength for a battle. Its visor remained unhelpfully blank, but it hadn't expected the database to contain any information on humans. Still, there was something almost exciting about the thought of a fight against opponents about which it knew nothing. The tedium of its former limited set of opponents had nearly defeated its hopes of ever surpassing its predecessor. But in this world, none of those opponents existed. Here, it was master - the most powerful being in the Universe, rather than a mere clone.

Had its creators ever anticipated its thoughts at that moment, they would have destroyed it without hesitation. For what was running through its mind as it flew toward the site of the power surge it had felt were thoughts that it was not supposed to have been capable of. It was a cold-hearted killer built for combat, which lived only to defeat any opponent it met until its worth could be proven. It was a creature devoid of any emotion, even the hatred that would have driven any other being in its place to evil. It had no capacity for feelings beyond such simple, emotionless concepts as boredom and hunger.

However, in defiance of its very nature, it knew one thing with a certainty that would have made its creators quake with fear in their graves: it was going to enjoy this battle.


	10. 9: L I N A Spells Trouble For Mina

A General Time Paradox

Chapter 9: L-I-N-A Spells Trouble For Mina

As she walked beside Amelia down the back streets of the Juuban district of Tokyo, Mina couldn't help but keep a close eye on her new friend. Amelia was hardly focused on their path. Instead, she kept turning to stare at every person they came across as if trying to will them away. Experimentally, Mina turned down the wrong street, just to see if Amelia would notice. Amelia followed Mina without saying a word, watching children play in a nearby park.

"Is everything all right?" Mina asked. Amelia stopped short, her eyes still fixed on the children. Mina waited, but Amelia said nothing. She simply stood there, staring into the park.

Mina cleared her throat. "Are you okay, Amelia? What's wrong?"

"Don't ask me that," Amelia said softly.

"Are you uncomfortable talking about it?" asked Mina.

"Why do you want to know about me anyway?" snapped Amelia.

Mina stepped back hurriedly. "Hey, don't get upset! I'm just worried about you."

Amelia's face screwed up in confusion. "YOU... worried about ME? Why?"

The question seemed to shock Mina. "Why? Because you're my friend, that's why!"

"That's not what I meant," said Amelia. "Why me, when you've got all those other friends?"

"Do you think that just because I only met you yesterday, it makes you any less of a friend?" asked Mina. "If anything, you probably need friendship now more than ever, because it's hard moving to a new school."

"I need friendship, all right," Amelia agreed grudgingly. "But you don't want to be friends with someone like me."

"Don't be so hard on yourself!" urged Mina. "You're a caring, wonderful person!"

"There's a lot you don't know about me," said Amelia darkly. "Stuff you wouldn't like."

"Well, we all have secrets," replied Mina. "But nobody will hold them against you."

"You have a pretty big secret yourself, don't you?" Amelia asked casually.

"What secret?" Mina asked defensively.

Amelia held up a finger and winked. "It wouldn't be a secret if I told you, would it?"

Mina groaned. "Well, I guess if you know about it, there's no sense hiding it. But tell me, how did you figure it out?"

Amelia shrugged. "It's not like you went to a lot of trouble to hide it."

"Really?" asked Mina, genuinely surprised. "I didn't think anyone would ever notice. I hid them all in my desk...."

"I thought it was obvious, but I guess most people wouldn't –" Amelia's eyes narrowed. "Hid WHAT in your desk?" she asked flatly.

Mina blushed. "All the love letters and drawings of Todd, of course! How else could you have found out about my secret crush?"

Amelia facefaulted. "Is THAT your big secret?"

Mina chuckled. "You sound disappointed. Why? What secret were you talking about?"

Amelia shook her head. "Oh, nothing. Don't worry about it." Inside, though, she began to wonder. Was she wrong? Was Mina actually just another innocent girl?

A relieved sigh from Mina drew Amelia's attention. Her eyes were drawn to the single bead of sweat running down Mina's forehead. As the salty water dripped across her skin, Amelia could barely make out a tiny heart-shaped outline in its path. "You didn't hit your head on something, did you?" she asked, touching the outline with a finger. Mina's forehead was completely smooth, if a bit wet. Yet there was definitely a mark there...

"No, not that I can remember," said Mina, grabbing Amelia's arm in both hands and pushing it gently away. "It doesn't hurt, anyway."

"Oh. I thought I saw a bruise there," said Amelia. She focused on it and felt a strong energy - not quite like the magic of her world, but similar. That mark was a symbol of power, all right. If Mina wasn't a Sailor Scout, she had another secret, much bigger than any crush. Amelia didn't remember any marks associated with the power of the Sailor Scouts, but they did all wear those tiaras right over the spot where the marks would be....

"What's on your mind?" Mina asked suddenly.

Amelia took a deep breath. There was just no getting around it. "Mina..." she began. "I'm not the kind of person you think I am."

"What could you possibly mean by that?" asked Mina. Then, she gasped. "Wait a minute... the reason you left your old school! Maybe it wasn't something that someone did to you, but something YOU did!"

"I didn't transfer here from another school," explained Amelia. "I came from a completely different world."

Fear crossed Mina's face, but she managed to hide it quickly. She feigned disbelief as best she could. "What are you talking about, Amelia?"

"My name isn't Amelia," replied Amelia. "That's just a name I used to get close enough to figure out who you really were. And now I know the truth. So I guess you should know the truth about me." She folded her arms over her chest, lining up her wrists right between the tiny mounds of her breasts. A vertical column of four faint red glowing discs appeared in front of her chest – one on the back of each wrist, one above, and one below. 

"What are you doing?" asked Mina, backing away.

Amelia closed her eyes, ignoring Mina completely. "Powers that hide my true form from mortal eyes, reveal what is hidden!" The intangible glowing discs became jewels set into talismans on Amelia's wrists and shirt. A headband wrapped around her forehead, and earrings and rings appeared in the appropriate places. A black cape emerged from just above her shoulders and flowed smoothly down her back, almost to the ground, and a sword and scabbard attached themselves to her belt.

Mina lost her footing and fell onto her back with a scream. "L-Lina Inverse!"

Lina's eyes popped open. "So, you remember me. That's good. It means I don't have to introduce myself. And just to save you the trouble, I know exactly who you are as well... Sailor Venus."

Mina's chest heaved as her shock drove the air from her lungs. "H-how...?" The one word was all she could get out. The rest of her energy was taken up with staring at her enemy in horror.

"I've been watching you for days, Mina," said Lina. "It's what I came here to do. In case you hadn't already figured it out, Queen Beryl brought me to this dimension for only one purpose." A fireball appeared in her hand, casting an eerie glow over her face. "To hunt you down and kill you."

*************************************************

Raye gasped and sat up in her bed, coughing on a throatful of saliva. Lita clapped her on the back. "Raye, are you okay?"

"I had a vision!" Raye whispered loudly. "A heart disappearing into a sea of cold blood.... Sailor Venus is in trouble!"

"Is it our new enemies?" asked Lita.

"I think so," replied Raye. "But something feels strange about the vision. Almost as if... whoever is causing the trouble... doesn't really want to hurt anyone. But if we don't stop them, Sailor Venus will die."

"Then I have to go help her," said Lita. "Will you be okay here by yourself?"

"I have to come with you," Raye said weakly. "I can feel the presence of a new enemy, even more powerful than anything we have fought before. You'll need my help."

"I don't think so," said Lita, gently pushing Raye back onto the bed and pulling up the blanket. "You're in no condition to go anywhere."

"You're walking into a trap," Raye groaned. "I think whatever is attacking Sailor Venus is only a distraction. The real danger is...."

"That's enough!" snapped Lita. "Get some rest, Raye, or else you won't be ready to help us in the next battle either!"

Raye wasn't ready to give up yet. "Please, listen to me...."

"I'll be careful, I promise," said Lita. "I'm sure Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury will be there, and we've got those new allies helping us too... the Sailor Scouts of the Outer Planets, or whoever they are. Not to mention Tuxedo Mask. We'll be fine."

Raye nodded. "All right. Go. Hurry up and save Sailor Venus."

Lita patted Raye on the shoulder. "Don't worry. I'll be back before you know it." She stood up and trotted out of the room, nearly bumping into Chad on her way out the door.

"Oops, sorry!" said Chad. "I was just going to check on Raye to see if she needed anything."

"I'm sure that's what you were doing," she replied, glowering slightly.

Chad held up his hands, misinterpreting the reason for her perturbation. "Not to say that I don't think you're doing a great job taking care of her, because you are! I just –"

"Tell you what," Lita interrupted. "I've got to go out for a bit, so could you watch Raye while I'm gone? Don't let her get out of bed!"

"Yes ma'am!" said Chad with a quick salute. He sighed as she headed for the front door. "Finally, my chance to take care of Raye! All that praying has finally paid off!" He clicked his heels together and pranced into the bedroom.

Raye was already sitting up and swinging her legs over the side of the bed. At the sight of Chad, she groaned and glared angrily at him. "What are YOU doing here?" she demanded.

"Your friend Lita asked me to take care of you while she went out," explained Chad. "And it looks like she was right. You know you're not supposed to get out of bed. You need to rest!"

"Relax, I'll be fine," she assured him. "I just have –" She put her feet on the floor and pushed herself up. Immediately, she winced and clutched her stomach with the hand that wasn't holding the bed for support. "- chores to do," she finished, with far less confidence.

Chad was at her side in a second, easing her back into the bed. "You're too weak to go anywhere! I already did all of your chores for you, and I'm going to keep doing them until you're fully recovered, even if it takes a year!" He stood up and clenched a fist in a heroic pose. "There's no effort too great to make if it helps you, Raye! I would travel to the ends of the Earth and back if only it would help you get back on your feet even one second sooner! I would –" A firm pressure on his forehead stopped him short. His eyes crossed, and he fell on his face in a snoring pile on the floor.

"You would shut up, that's what you'd do," Raye whispered. She knelt beside Chad and turned him over so that the modified spirit ward on his forehead, marked with the kanji for "sleep," was visible. "I'm sorry, Chad, but I can't let you or anyone else stop me. The others need me." She stood up, ignoring the pain in her side and stomach. "I'll be able to handle the pain... once I'm Sailor Mars." Her fingers wrapped around the handle of her transformation wand. "MARS POWER!" she shouted, and the transformation began. Her clothes vanished, and she spun and danced in the usual fashion as her fuku formed around her, piece by piece.

After what seemed like hours, the glow faded, leaving Sailor Mars in her final pose. She collapsed to the floor and quickly curled into a fetal position, holding her abdomen with both arms, moaning softly and shivering. "I can't... I can't do this!" She stretched an arm up to grab her blanket. "I'm sorry, everyone. I can't help you. This pain... it's just too much!"

As she tried to pull herself back onto the bed, the room swirled before her eyes. Mars shook her head and blinked, but when the world stopped spinning, she was no longer in her bedroom. She was in an alley not far from the Crown Arcade. The soft pile that she was holding onto smelled strongly of rotting food and animal urine. She had to lift her head and turn her face away in order to breathe, and even then, the air tasted foul. But as her eyes focused on the figures entering the alley, her fear drove any objection to the stench from her mind.

There at the alley's mouth were the other Sailor Scouts, running into the alley in slow motion while turning their heads at every other step to look back at whatever horror was chasing them. Sailor Mars tried to call out to them, but the filthy air choked her, and she barely managed to prevent herself from throwing up. Her stomach heaved, making the wound in her side flare up in pain again. She cried out, at the same time a cry of pain and a cry of warning to her comrades, but no sound came from her throat. There was no sound at all, in fact. She could only see the screams on the lips of the Sailor Scouts as they fled into the alley to hide.

They never made it. As Sailor Venus limped into the alley at the rear of the procession, a shadow appeared above her, surrounded by a bright blue corona. Before Mars could make out its shape, the corona burst outward, enveloping the entire alley in its light. The vague forms of the Sailor Scouts within the light disintegrated as she watched, and now she could hear the screams as her friends were torn to atoms by the energy – screams that chilled her to the spine only slightly less than the moment when each voice fell silent, one by one, until the only voice still screaming was her own.

The light continued to expand as she watched, even after all of the other Sailor Scouts were dead, and Mars screwed her eyes shut to dispel the image, reminding herself that it was only a vision despite the vividness. A warm wind washed over her, and she nearly screamed again, but the light was upon her, tearing her throat apart before she could make another sound. Her entire body melted into the light, becoming no more than fragments in the air and then not even that. She was still conscious, still aware of everything around her, but could sense nothing except for endless pain – her own as well as that of the other Sailor Scouts, all reliving their dying moments over and over again for all eternity....

She was lying on the floor of her bedroom, panting heavily, her body covered in goosebumps and sweat. Her right hand held a deathgrip on her blanket. The pain was gone, except for the stab wound, but her body still tingled with the horrific memory of her ordeal. There was no way she could move after that... and yet, she knew that she would have to. A vision that clear could only mean that the future she had seen was certain. The Sailor Scouts would die, and would suffer eternal torture that she would never have been able to imagine had she not lived through it... unless she did something to stop it. If she could just get to that alley before they did....

She slowly pushed herself up onto her elbow, taking care not to strain herself. Even so, her side ached, and she felt dizzy to the point of nausea. Deciding that getting to her feet was out of the question, Sailor Mars set off for the bedroom door on her hands and knees. "Don't worry, guys," she said under her breath as she pulled herself across the floor. "Even if I have to crawl the whole way, I'll save you. Just don't die before I can get there."

*************************************************

Amy and Serena made a rather interesting sight as they left the campus of Crossroads Junior High School. Amy had to lead Serena around people and objects in her path, as Serena's eyes were occupied with shedding enough water to irrigate a small desert country. "I can't believe we LOST!" she whined in that annoying voice that always made Amy wonder how she could stand the girl.

"Please, you're giving me a headache," Amy finally complained. "You're not even on the team. What do you have to be upset about?"

"What do you THINK I'm upset about? We LOST!"

"I know," said Amy, putting a hand to her forehead. "And you haven't stopped crying over it since. I think we should be focusing on more important matters."

Serena instantly stopped crying. "Oh, right! We need to get together and figure out what we're going to do about our new enemies."

Amy nodded. "I think Ranko may be one of them."

Serena's jaw dropped. "Ranko?! No way!"

"She seems very interested in us," Amy pointed out. "And she has the same red hair as Lina Inverse, the sorceress who attacked us. There aren't many people around here who have red hair. Plus, Ranko showed up at school the day after we were first attacked by our new enemies. And the evening she was with Lita was the evening that she was attacked."

"But she's so nice! How could she be working for the Negaverse?"

"Even Nephlite seemed nice when he was in his human disguise," Amy reminded her. "She's trying to catch us off guard so that she can destroy us. I'm sure of it!"

"Nephlite WAS nice," countered Serena. "He saved Molly's life, remember? He wanted to be on our side!"

"I admit that Ranko doesn't seem like the type of girl who would try to kill us, but we can't afford to let our guard down."

Serena fretted. "You're just being paranoid, Amy. You saw how upset she was that you couldn't study with her tonight. Could a Nega-monster fake something like that?"

"Our opponents are no Nega-monsters," Amy reminded her. "I'm sure they are capable of pretending to feel any emotion they need, just like an actor in a movie. I think Ranko's discouragement was merely an act to coax me into being alone with her so that she could attack me."

"That's silly, Amy! How could she know that you're Sailor Mercury?"

"The same way I recognized her," replied Amy. "There are even fewer people around with blue hair than with red."

Serena seemed doubtful. "Nobody's ever recognized you before, Amy. I've seen you transform a hundred times, and even *I* have trouble recognizing you!"

"Well, our transformation magic IS very powerful," Amy admitted.

Serena crossed her arms triumphantly. "In other words, Ranko's probably just an ordinary girl, and you blew her off because of a silly suspicion!"

"YOU blew her off to go on a date with Darien," Amy reminded her.

"I just did that to get out of studying!" corrected Serena. "I probably won't even be able to convince Darien to go out with me tonight."

"And how do you think that will make Ranko feel?" asked Amy.

"But STUDYING... Come on, Amy! Studying is so BORING!"

Amy sighed sadly. "I really hate to turn her down, but after our recent battles, we can't afford to take chances. Sailor Mars is out of commission, and Queen Beryl has a new warrior in addition to the four we fought before. Our enemies outnumber us now, and they're more powerful than we are."

"What are you guys talking about?" a voice asked casually from just behind them. Serena screamed and leapt into the air to land on her face, while Amy whirled to face the questioner, her hand covering her fluttering heart.

"Ranko, you startled us!" Amy admonished her.

"Sorry about that," said Ranko. "I missed you guys after the game."

"YOU ran out on US," Serena reminded her as she got to her feet. "Remember? 'I'll be back right after I throw my cup away.' And then you disappeared for the rest of the game!"

"It's all right," Amy said diplomatically. "I understand perfectly."

Ranko blinked. "You do?"

Amy nodded. "You seemed very upset when I said I couldn't study with you tonight. Could that possibly have been the reason you left us?"

"Way to think, Amy," Serena quietly congratulated her.

"It's okay," Ranko said benevolently. "If you have plans, you have plans."

Amy blushed guiltily. "I'm really sorry, Ranko."

"Don't mention it." Ranko snapped her fingers. "Say, are you doing anything right now? We could all head over to the arcade for some relaxation."

Serena's eyes sparkled. "The ARCADE? Why didn't you say so sooner? Of course we'll go to the arcade with you! Won't we, Amy?"

"But what about our meeting?" Amy protested.

Serena hovered over Amy's shoulder. "I feel a little guilt monster nagging you," she sang quietly. "If you feel bad about ditching Ranko, here's your chance to make it up!"

"But I really don't think it's safe," whispered Amy. "If she really is Lina Inverse..."

Ranko looked back and forth between the two, feigning confusion. "What's wrong? You guys aren't... trying to avoid me, are you?"

"Oh, no, nothing like that," Serena assured her. "Amy's just not in the mood for playing games. Or that's what SHE thinks...."

"We have a meeting to go to," Amy said firmly. "We don't have time for games."

"Oh," said Ranko, suddenly interested. "What kind of meeting?"

"It's a study group meeting!" Serena replied without thinking.

"Ooh! Can I come?" Ranko asked enthusiastically. Serena gasped and covered her mouth.

"I'm sorry," Amy said hastily, "but it's a private group. The other girls would object to having a new member."

"Oh." Ranko's head slumped. "Then I guess it's just me for the day, huh?"

Serena patted her on the shoulder. "Don't feel bad, Ranko! I'm sure you'll find something fun to do."

"Yeah, sure." Ranko sighed. "Have fun at your meeting, then." She waved over her shoulder as she turned and walked away.

"Serena, I feel so miserable," Amy said quietly. "How could I be so rude to her?"

"Amy, Serena, down here!" hissed Luna from near her feet. "We've got trouble! Sailor Venus is being attacked!"

"Oh no!" cried Serena. "We've got to go help her!"

"I just heard the news from Artemis," explained Luna. "That new friend of hers was Lina Inverse, the sorceress!"

"Lina Inverse?" asked Amy. "But I thought Ranko was –" She looked up the street, where Ranko was waiting at the corner, staring uneasily at the cat as she turned into the next street. "I don't understand!"

"What's wrong?" asked Luna.

"I was sure that Ranko was Lina Inverse," explained Amy. "But if Lina is attacking Sailor Venus right now, then Ranko can't possibly be her...."

"I told you so," said Serena. "She's not from the Negaverse."

"But I was so certain!" Amy repeated. "Why else would she have moved here, right when our enemies showed up?"

"Well, we thought the same of you, when you moved here," Luna reminded her. "And look at what happened. You turned out to be a Sailor Scout!"

""Do you think that's it?" asked Amy. "Could Ranko be a Sailor Scout?"

"We already know all of the Sailor Scouts that I would be able to recognize," said Luna. "But she might be one of the Sailor Scouts of the Outer Planets. Neither Artemis nor I knows who they really are."

"I bet that's it!" agreed Serena. "Ranko is a Sailor Scout from the Outer Planets!"

"Then she's not an enemy, but a friend!" Amy realized. "That's why she was with Lita when our enemies showed up. She was trying to protect Sailor Jupiter!"

"We can't jump to conclusions," warned Luna. "We don't know for certain what she is yet."

"Then we have to find out for sure," said Serena. "I'll use my disguise pen to –"

"We don't have time for that!" snapped Luna. "Now, hurry up and find a place to transform so we can help Sailor Venus! If Ranko is one of the Sailor Scouts of the Outer Planets, she'll catch up in her own time. If not, then we should just leave her be."

Amy stared longingly in the direction Ranko had gone. "I'll catch up to you. There's something I need to do first."

"More important than Mina's life?" asked Serena.

"No," Amy admitted. "But I've made a terrible mistake, and I simply won't be able to think straight until I've corrected it."

"Well, be quick about it," ordered Luna. "Meet us near the Crown Arcade."

"Right," said Amy with a nod, as Luna and Serena set off for a convenient alley.

Amy quickly set off on Ranko's trail. It didn't take long for her to catch up, as the redhead was making slow progress, shuffling her feet on the sidewalk. "Ranko, wait!" Amy called as she approached.

Ranko turned her head, giving Amy a full view of the saddest face she had ever seen. "Hey, Amy," said Ranko, keeping as much emotion as she could out of her voice.

Amy stopped right in front of Ranko and bowed her head. "Ranko... I want to apologize to you."

"You already did," Ranko reminded her. "Plenty of times."

"I know, but...." Amy looked up into Ranko's eyes. "I know how difficult things are for you right now. The new challenges you're facing must make life seem like a constant battle."

"It always has seemed that way," replied Ranko.

"I feel guilty for not helping you," said Amy. "As a friend, it's my duty to do whatever I can to help you."

"No, if you have plans, -"

"I can do my research another time!" Amy interrupted, more forcefully than she intended. Ranko's eyes flew open in surprise. "I mean... I'd like to help you study tonight, if it's okay."

Ranko swallowed. "Um, sure. Sounds great," she said uncertainly.

"Wonderful! Let's meet at the school library at seven o'clock."

"Will it be open?" asked Ranko.

"I have a pass," replied Amy. "Honor students are allowed to use the library until ten on weeknights."

"O-okay," stammered Ranko, still dazed. "I'll be there...."

"Great!" Amy bowed again. "I'll see you at seven!" She turned and ran away, pausing for a hasty "Goodbye!" as she rounded the corner.

Ranko stared wide-eyed after her, blinking at irregular intervals. "Ooooo-kay. That was weird."

Ryoko swooped down from the sky to land next to Ranko. "Come on, Ranma. It's time to go." She poured a thermos of hot water over Ranko's head. "Your girlfriend screwed up, big time."

Ranma grabbed Ryoko by the shoulders. "Akane? What happened to her?"

"You moron!" shouted Ryoko, slapping his hands away. "I'm talking about Lina!"

"Oh," said Ranma, much relieved. "What did she do?"

"She blew her cover, that's what she did," said Ryoko. "Now the Sailor Scouts know exactly who she is. Which means we'd better not let them get away this time, or we might not get another chance."

"So what are we waiting for?" asked Ranma, clenching his fists in anticipation. "Let's get this fight over with and save Akane."

Ryoko nodded emphatically. "Yeah. Let's go."

*************************************************

Mina Aino's mind raced as she crab-crawled away from Lina Inverse, staring at the fireball in her hand. Everything had happened so quickly that she hardly knew what was what anymore. Her former friend was really a deadly enemy; that much she knew, although she still couldn't believe that it could be true. Yet the evidence was right there, illuminating her face with its flickering light. Somewhere in the back of her head, a tiny voice shouted at her to transform and face the danger. But the rest of her consciousness held her back. She wasn't fighting an enemy – she was facing a friend.

Mina forced her panic under control, slowing her fevered breathing to its normal rate. She couldn't possibly fight the powerful sorceress alone, but who knew how long it would take for help to arrive? By that time, she might be nothing more than a pile of ash. Lina could unleash her deadly attack at any time... so why hadn't she? She'd had plenty of time, but seemed to be holding back, for some reason. Mina could sense a strange emotion in Lina, a deep regret that didn't make any sense. Yet perhaps it signaled a faint hope for Mina... if only she could bring herself to understand what was going on!

"Amelia?" began Mina, not realizing how afraid she was until she heard it in her own voice. "Why are you doing this?"

"I told you, my name's not Amelia," Lina corrected her.

"Maybe your name's not Amelia," said Mina, "but you have all the compassion and kindness that made Amelia who she was. Someone like that would never hurt anyone, I know it!"

"You don't know anything about me," countered Lina. "Don't try to talk your way out of this."

"Maybe you don't know it yourself," Mina continued, "but I can feel the emotions in your heart. You don't want to kill me, do you?"

"What I want doesn't matter," said Lina. "If I don't kill you... then Gourry will...."

The fireball flickered in Lina's hand, and Mina saw her opportunity. She quickly pressed forward. "Who's Gourry?" she asked sympathetically.

The question seemed to enrage Lina. "I don't need your sympathy!" she shouted. She took aim at Mina's head and tensed her arm as if to fire immediately.

"If I'm going to die, I want to know why!" Mina said firmly. She stood up, amazed at her own bravery. "What's going to happen if you don't kill me?"

Lina's arm followed Mina's movement, but she didn't release the fireball. "You really want to know?" she asked, as surprised by Mina's action as Mina herself was. "All right. Gourry was sort of my partner, back in my own world. I guess I got used to having him around, and he sometimes managed to make himself useful. Then I made a big mistake, and Gourry was the one who ended up suffering for it."

"That's so horrible!" Mina said with genuine concern. "What happened?"

"It doesn't matter," replied Lina. "The short version is, Gourry got trapped in a crystal, and Queen Beryl's going to smash it if I don't kill the Sailor Scouts. And since you happen to be one of them...."

"You have to kill me, even though you really don't want to," Mina finished for her.

"That's about the size of it," affirmed Lina. "Sorry I have to do this. I was just getting to like you."

Mina steeled her nerves once again. "Let us help you."

The fireball vanished. "What did you say?"

"Queen Beryl is the enemy of the Sailor Scouts," explained Mina. "If she's holding your partner hostage, then she's your enemy as well. Instead of fighting, we should be joining forces to rescue your friend and defeat Beryl!"

Lina shook her head. "It won't work. They're watching us. The second we start plotting against them, they'll shatter the crystals." She concentrated on her hand, and the fireball blazed back to life. "No, the only way to save Gourry is to stop wasting time and kill you now!"

"Queen Beryl isn't going to let Gourry go, even if you kill me," said Mina.

"She's the one with Gourry's life in her hands," said Lina. "What can I do but follow her orders?"

"Just let me confer with the other Scouts," urged Mina. "Sailor Mercury will be able to come up with a plan, I just know it! We'll save Gourry and whoever else Beryl has kidnapped, I promise!"

"I don't know..." Lina said uncertainly. "What happens if –"

"Look out!" shouted Mina, a second too late. A ball of water engulfed Lina, extinguishing her fireball instantly. "Oh no! Lina!" Mina turned to the direction the water had come from and found herself facing a two-story building across the street from the park. "Please, don't attack her!" she shouted. "She isn't our real enemy!"

Within the ball of water, Lina drew her sword from its scabbard and slashed at the bubble. As the point broke the surface tension of the water, it splashed formlessly to the ground. Lina coughed and glared accusingly at Mina, brushing the wet hair from her forehead. "Is that the way justice fighters operate in your world? Offer false hopes and keep them talking so your partners can attack from behind?"

"I don't even know who they are!" Mina protested.

"A likely story," retorted Lina. "To think I almost trusted you." She held an invisible bow in her arms and prepared a Flare Arrow. "Killing you just got a lot easier."

"Please, I want to help you!" begged Mina.

"Then die," said Lina, with no trace of emotion.

As Lina began to release the Flare Arrow, she sensed a huge rock approaching and quickly raised her arm and snapped her fingers, shouting "DUG BREAK!" The rock shattered in midair while the Flare Arrow flew wild, scorching the upper branches of an isolated tree. "Dammit! Why can't they just come out and fight face to face?" She glanced up toward the rooftop where the shots were coming from, then back at Mina again. "I can't leave her alone to go fight them, but I can't concentrate enough to kill her while those three are shooting at me!"

Lina's thoughts were interrupted by a pair of screams from the rooftop, which were abruptly cut short seconds after they began. She and Mina both turned to look at the same time. A bright gleam from the rooftop blinded them at first, but as the figure floated down to the ground, the reflecting sunlight faded enough to allow them to see the creature. It was difficult to distinguish any features, since most of its body was covered with armor-like machinery – large boots, gloves, chest plate, and a helmet with an opaque visor, all connected by thick wires. It appeared to be slightly taller than any human, but its body was squat, with short kneeless legs and long arms compared to the rest of its body. The few portions of skin that were visible, including a long tail, were covered in dark lavender fur that almost imperceptibly glowed.

The creature landed in the middle of the street, forcing the few passing cars to screech to a halt. One car wasn't fast enough, and crumpled like paper against an invisible curved shield more than a foot from the creature's body. The driver and passengers threw open what remained of their doors and fled, joining the occupants of the other cars as well as anyone who had still remained in the park after observing Lina's light show.

Two eye-shaped blue lights appeared in the helmet's visor, scanning the two girls. "Are you Sailor Scouts?" asked a deadpan voice that didn't seem to come from the creature itself. Before either one of them could respond, the blue lights focused on Mina, and one of the thin arms rose to point at her. "You are," said the creature. It raised its arm, and Mina floated up into the air.

"Hey, put me down!" Mina screamed in terror.

The creature swung its arm to the side, sending Mina flying in that direction until she slammed into a brick wall fifty yards away. "My mission is to kill you," said the creature. "I believe that your opinion on the matter is of no consequence."

Lina stared uneasily at the creature. "Who the heck are you?" she asked.

The helmet turned to face Lina. "I am known as Mew Two," it replied, "but make no mistake. I am superior to the original Mew in every way."

"Mewtwo? That's your name?"

"That is correct, Lina Inverse," replied Mewtwo.

Lina gaped. "How did you know MY name?"

"We have no time to talk," said Mewtwo. "Our mission is to kill the Sailor Scouts."

"Well, it's obvious you're serious about fighting," remarked Lina.

"Once I kill the Sailor Scouts, I will be free," Mewtwo told her. "I must not fail."

"Free?" asked Lina. "Free of what?"

Mewtwo ignored the question and raised its right arm, lifting Mina off the ground once again. Before it could smash her into another wall, a rose smacked stem-first into Mewtwo's invisible shield, harmlessly bouncing off. Mewtwo turned its head to look first at the rose, then at Tuxedo Mask, who stood a short distance down the street.

"Put her down immediately, evildoer!" shouted Tuxedo Mask, brandishing his cane.

Mewtwo casually pointed its left arm at Tuxedo Mask, who reeled as if he'd been struck in the stomach. "Do not interfere, human," it commanded.

Lina looked up at Mewtwo, impressed. "Wow, you can really handle them!"

"I thought humans would be more difficult to fight than Pokémon," said Mewtwo. "I find them unfortunately disappointing. I had hoped for so much more than this."

"Sailor Venus isn't fighting back yet," Lina informed Mewtwo. "And Tuxedo Mask has never been particularly tough."

"I see," said Mewtwo. "Then these two are not worthy opponents." It let its hand fall to its side, dropping Mina to the ground. "In that case, I will wait for the opponents who will fight me."

"I don't think that's a good idea," said Lina. "The Sailor Scouts are a lot tougher than they look."

"The thought of a difficult battle excites me," replied Mewtwo. "I have never looked forward to anything ever since I was created. Now, finally, I will meet an opponent who can challenge me. I will finally be able to prove that I am superior. But destroying helpless victims will prove nothing. There is no point in killing those who will not fight back."

"I thought you were fighting for your freedom," Lina pointed out.

"I will be free once the Sailor Scouts are dead," confirmed Mewtwo.

"Well, how do you expect to kill them if they refuse to fight?" asked Lina.

Mewtwo turned its stare back to Lina. "You may kill them, if you wish. As you said, they are helpless to resist. And if they do attempt to stop you, I will be able to fight them."

Lina watched Mina try unsuccessfully to get to her feet. "I'm not in the mood for killing helpless people either."

Mewtwo nodded. "Then we wait. Soon, we will be able to fight."

"How do you know?" asked Lina.

Before Mewtwo could answer, Sailor Moon ran into view from the direction of the arcade, with Sailors Mercury and Jupiter close behind. "Hold it right there, Nega-dweebs!" shouted Sailor Moon. "We're not going to let you hurt our friend any more!" She pointed a finger at Mewtwo and Lina. "You'd better leave Mina alone, or I'll punish you in the name of the Moon!"

"Are they fighters?" asked Mewtwo.

"They're suited up for battle," confirmed Lina.

"Good." Mewtwo pressed the fingers of its gloves together in anticipation. "Then it is time for us to fight."


	11. 10: Divided and Conquered

A General Time Paradox

Chapter 10: Divided and Conquered

Sailor Uranus opened her eyes and shook her head, trying without success to relieve her pounding headache. She was lying on a flat surface beneath a sky that was a swirl of colors, none of which she could identify. She groaned. "I don't remember having anything to drink last night...."

"You're not hung over, Uranus," said Sailor Neptune from beside her. "We got hit by a powerful blast just as Sailor Pluto pulled us into the Gate of Time."

"Is that where this is?" asked Uranus. Now that she thought about it, the place was familiar. "Then, Sailor Pluto..."

"... is right here," finished Sailor Pluto. Uranus sat up, holding her forehead, to see Sailor Pluto standing vigilantly over both herself and Neptune. "You took most of the energy from the blast, I'm afraid. Fortunately, you were more here than there when it struck, or it would have killed you."

"In other words, you saved us both," summarized Uranus.

"Did you see where the blast came from?" Neptune asked Pluto.

Pluto nodded. "The being that attacked you came from a world where humans live together with creatures known as Pokémon. Pokémon come in many shapes and sizes, but most of them have elemental powers with which to battle other Pokémon, or in some cases, humans. What you saw was the result of an experiment conducted by scientists seeking to generate a clone of a very powerful extinct Pokémon known as Mew. The scientists tried to make the clone superior to the original, but their efforts merely mutated it into the form you saw, known as Mewtwo. It has been a willing servant of a criminal mastermind for years, but Chronite has led Mewtwo to believe that if it can kill the Sailor Scouts, it will earn its freedom from its master."

"Who cares where it came from?" snapped Uranus. "How do we stop it?"

"I'm afraid that even our powers will not be enough to break through Mewtwo's psychic shield," Pluto said sadly. "It has the ability to project a barrier that will stop any physical or elemental attack."

"But what kind of attack isn't physical or elemental?" asked Neptune.

"I can think of none," replied Pluto. "There is one way that the Sailor Scouts of the Inner Planets might be able to break through the shield... but it would be too risky to put that power into their hands."

"You have a better idea?" asked Uranus.

Pluto bit her lip and shook her head. "No, I do not. But it must not come to that. The risk is too great! We cannot afford to create a paradox while trying to prevent one!"

Uranus stood up, counting each muscle that ached as she did so. "Well, if we can't give them the power to win, then we're going to have to fight that thing ourselves."

"Are you ready to fight it?" Neptune asked, her face and voice edged with concern.

"Of course," Uranus lied. "I'm in a little pain, but nothing I can't walk off."

"The best you can hope to do is distract Mewtwo from attacking the Inner Scouts," said Pluto. "But the Inner Scouts already know too much. You must not let them discover any more about you than they already know!"

"We know the drill," Uranus said bitterly. "We have to stay hidden, the Inner Scouts have to live, we can't use our powerful attacks, they can't learn their powerful attacks... have I forgotten anything?"

Neptune put her hand on Uranus' shoulder. "Calm down, Uranus. You're letting the tension get to you. We should wait until you're feeling up to going back –"

"No," Uranus interrupted. "We're going back now. We've wasted enough time." She took a step toward the Door of Time and winced at the pain in her legs.

Neptune slid her arm around Uranus' back to support her. "We're not going anywhere until you're ready," she insisted.

"Let go of me," spat Uranus.

Neptune did so, stepping back in surprise. "Uranus?"

"You stay here if you want," said Uranus. "But the Inner Scouts are out there fighting for their lives, and I'm not going to sit around here and let that monster attack them any more."

"But Uranus," Neptune tried again.

"Go with her," Pluto commanded. "She has a point. The Inner Scouts cannot survive this battle without your help."

Neptune nodded. "I understand. We'll do our best, Sailor Pluto."

"Be very careful," warned Pluto. "Do not attempt to fight Mewtwo directly. Provide a distraction if you can, but do no more than that. I will try to think of a way to defeat it without risking a paradox."

"And what if you can't think of anything in time?" asked Uranus.

Pluto smiled. "If I do not think of a solution, someone else will."

Uranus turned back to the Door of Time in disgust. "Blind optimism.... I'm glad she's so cocky, because I'm really not looking forward to this."

"This time, it will be my turn to protect you," said Neptune, supporting Uranus again as they both walked toward the Door of Time.

"Don't," returned Uranus. "We're both protecting the Inner Scouts. Do whatever you have to to keep them safe. If that means leaving me behind...."

Neptune nodded. "I've heard that order before."

"Promise me you'll follow it," Uranus requested.

Neptune nodded again. "I'll do what I think is right."

"That's not what I –" Uranus began. Then the Door of Time opened, and the light pulled them through.

Pluto closed her eyes and held her staff in front of herself. "Inner Scouts... it is all up to you."

*************************************************

Sailor Jupiter shrank back from the figure before her. "What the heck is that thing?" she asked. "Is it alive, or is it a machine?"

Sailor Mercury tapped at the keys of her computer. "I can't tell... the reading says that it's electronic, but it's also alive!"

"Maybe there's something alive under all of that machinery," offered Jupiter.

Mercury nodded. "It's wearing computerized armor... but the being underneath is both electronic and living."

"It doesn't matter what it is," said Sailor Moon. "We're going to beat it!" She grabbed the Crescent Moon Wand and held it in both hands, as if hugging a stuffed animal to her chest.

The creature took a step forward. A blue light glowed in the visor of its helmet. "You are Sailor Scouts," said a deep, resounding voice in the head of each Sailor Scout.

Sailor Moon dropped the wand. "Who said that?"

"It's communicating via telepathy," replied Mercury.

Sailor Moon nodded knowingly. "Ah...." She turned to Mercury. "What's telepathy?"

Before Mercury could answer her, all three Sailor Scouts floated upward, several feet into the air. Sailor Moon screamed and flailed her arms and legs at the air. "Put me down!" she screamed. "What's going on? What happened to that gravity stuff that's supposed to keep us on the ground?"

"I don't –" Mercury began, before she flew toward the brick wall behind her, slamming into it nearly hard enough to leave an indentation. Sailor Jupiter followed her in short order, leaving Sailor Moon the only Sailor Scout still floating.

"You're an interesting one," said the voice in her head. "Your mind is different from the others', somehow. Your power is of a different kind."

Her power.... Sailor Moon straightened up defiantly, standing at a slight angle in midair. "That's right! Whoever or whatever you are, prepare to be struck down by the power of the Moon!" She pulled her tiara from her forehead and threw it at the creature. "MOON TIARA MAGIC!"

The glowing discus spun through the air toward the creature until it bounced off of an invisible shield three feet in front of its body. The creature looked down at the tiara in disgust. "That is it? That is the special power you possess?"

Sailor Moon yelped. "My tiara didn't even touch him! What do I do now?"

"All you humans do is throw roses and pieces of jewelry?" asked the creature disdainfully. "You're not even worth the effort!" It swung its arm to the side and sent Sailor Moon flying toward the brick wall.

"JUPITER THUNDER CRASH!" shouted Sailor Jupiter, sending a bolt of lightning at the creature while it was distracted. The lightning struck the shield with no effect as Sailor Moon hit the wall face first. Sailor Jupiter caught Sailor Moon as she fell to the ground. "Are you okay?" she asked.

Sailor Moon raised her arm to wipe some of the blood from her nose. "My face hurts..." she whined.

"That shield seems to block all of our attacks," announced Mercury. "We'll have to find some way to break through it."

"Well, don't look at us," said Sailor Moon. "You're the genius! You think of something!"

"We need to buy some time," said Mercury. "MERCURY BUBBLES SPLASH!" Sailor Mercury's bubbles filled the air and burst, covering the street in a blanket of fog.

Lina sighed in exasperation. "The same old trick again...." She raised her hand to cast the Diem Wing spell. As she concentrated her energy, however, she felt a static buildup in the fog around her. She had no time to react before the electricity surged through her body, conducted through the condensing droplets of fog on her skin and clothing. Her muscles spasmed as the charge filled her from head to toe, frying her from the inside out. The last thought to cross her mind was that the Sailor Scouts really made a great team, when they used their powers together... and then she collapsed.

*************************************************

The rocking sensation of rapid movement awoke Mina from a nightmare of being betrayed by a trusted friend who she hadn't quite been able to identify. The aches all over her body quickly reminded her of the truth behind the nightmare. Amelia... a true friend; a deadly enemy. Yet she hadn't seen the evil in her former friend's heart, even after Amelia – no, Lina Inverse – had revealed her true nature. The story that she had told Mina seemed believable enough... but then there was that armored creature that had tossed both Mina and Tuxedo Mask around like paper dolls. Why would someone who was so reluctant to fight ally herself with such an evil creature?

Wait... movement? Why was she moving? Judging by the spine that she could feel her chest resting on, the arms crooked under her knees, and the bony shoulders over which her arms were draped, she was being carried on someone's back. But whose? Certainly not Tuxedo Mask's – she'd have been able to feel his cape. No, this person was wearing a single layer of thin fabric and had very soft hair which made a nice pillow. Mina tried to open her eyes to see whose back she was riding on, but they burned so much that she decided to leave them closed. She relaxed and let her head roll sideways until it bumped into what felt like a small ball of yarn, about the size of... a meatball....

"Are you awake now, Mina?" asked her carrier, in a voice that sounded slurred to Mina's tired ears, but still carried a familiar warmth.

"S'rena..." mumbled Mina. "Izzat you?"

"I'm Sailor Moon at the moment," replied Sailor Moon, "but otherwise, you're right."

"Whyre you carrin' me?" asked Mina. She cringed at the sound of her voice. Why was she speaking like she was drunk?

"We had to run away," said Sailor Moon. "Even Sailor Mercury didn't know any way to fight that monster that attacked you."

"Wherzz Merc'ry?" asked Mina. She swallowed a mouthful of saliva and tried again, focusing on each word. "Where... a-are... the others?"

"Hold on. I need to rest for a bit." Sailor Moon stopped and slowly bent down to deposit Mina in a sitting position on the ground. Mina leaned back and felt a brick wall behind her. She gratefully let the wall support her weight and relaxed her weary muscles. Sailor Moon sat down next to her. "We had to split up," she explained. "Mercury used her fog to cover our escape, and Jupiter shocked Lina Inverse with her electricity so that she couldn't blow the fog away."

Mina started to let her head droop, but a dull pain rose as she moved it, so she let it rest against the wall. Her eyes still burned too much to try to open them. "Where are we?" she asked.

There was an awkward pause before Sailor Moon answered. "I don't really know," she said at last. "I was so worried about getting away that I forgot to watch WHERE I was going." She let out an embarrassed laugh. "I've never seen this alley before."

Mina started to groan in exasperation, but it turned into a groan of pain halfway through as her right arm gave a twinge. "Mina, are you okay?" Sailor Moon asked worriedly. "I was so worried about getting away that I forgot to ask how you were feeling!"

Mina sighed. "I think my arm took a beating when I got slammed into that wall. Other than that, it's all just one big blur of pain. I can't tell one part of me from the next."

A comforting warmth broke through the pain in Mina's shoulders, accompanied by a slight pressure. Sailor Moon had wrapped her arms around Mina in a hug. "You'll be okay, Mina. I won't let anything happen to you," she whispered.

"I know," Mina whispered back. She felt tears coming to her eyes, and welcomed them. The salty water relieved the burning enough to allow her to open her eyes at last, although her tears still blurred her vision beyond the point of utility. She blinked them away and looked around for signs of where they might be, but the featureless walls of the alley told her nothing. However, the echo of sobs off those walls spoke volumes. Mina's arms rose to encircle Sailor Moon, returning her embrace. "Don't cry over me," urged Mina. "You said it yourself. I'll be fine."

"I know," said Sailor Moon, sniffing in her tears. "But it hurts to see my friends in so much pain... sometimes, I wish I could take it all for myself. I wish I could suffer in your place...."

"Hey, what's with the sudden angst?" asked Mina, trying to be as cheerful as possible. "I haven't seen you this down since Tuxedo Mask went to work for Queen Beryl."

"I don't know... what's wrong with me," said Sailor Moon. "Maybe it's the sudden pressure. Even with our fight against Beryl coming up, things were still going pretty well until a few days ago. Now we're fighting all these new enemies, and more keep showing up every day. I just can't help but feel overwhelmed by... well, everything that's going on now." She straightened up, letting Mina see her face for the first time since waking up. Between the tears in her eyes and the drying blood crusting under her nose, she hardly looked like the same Sailor Moon. "Do you think I'm giving up too easily?" she asked Mina.

Mina tried not to stare. "What do you mean, giving up?" she asked.

"I'm supposed to be you guys' leader," replied Sailor Moon, turning away. "But I'm scared and helpless, and if that thing were to come here right now, I'd just run away again. We're not supposed to run away, are we? We're the Sailor Scouts, and we're the only ones who can fight the Negaverse. If we don't do it, who will, right?"

"Maybe it's time to admit that this problem really is bigger than the five of us, Sailor Moon," said Mina, patting Sailor Moon reassuringly on the back. "Maybe Queen Beryl really has found a way to beat us. Maybe there really isn't any way we can fight that monster."

"You think so?" asked Sailor Moon.

"I said 'maybe,'" Mina reiterated. "But even if we can't win, what good will it do us to just sit here and whine about it? If we at least try, and give it our all, then if there IS a way to win, we're sure to find it. And if not, then at least we went down fighting the good fight. But if we don't even try to fight, then we'll die no matter what."

Sailor Moon blinked in surprise. "You know something... that makes a lot of sense!"

Mina nodded. "It's like Pascal's Wager. When the only way good things will happen is if you believe in them, then there's no reason not to believe."

"Then why didn't you turn into Sailor Venus to fight them?" asked Sailor Moon.

Mina lowered her eyes. "I... well, it's because...." She sighed. She'd have to admit it eventually. "I didn't want to hurt Lina."

To Mina's surprise, Sailor Moon nodded. "I know what you mean. It's hard enough fighting people who have turned into monsters, but when we're fighting other human beings...." She swallowed. "I just get this awful feeling inside, like our powers were never meant to be used that way. I can almost feel Queen Serenity urging me not to hurt anyone every time I try to fight back."

"That's not the reason," explained Mina. "I don't know about the new enemy, but Lina and the others... don't really want to have to hurt us, either. They're only fighting to save the lives of their friends."

"What makes you think that?" asked Sailor Moon, not entirely willing to believe her, but trusting her friend's judgment.

"Amelia... I mean Lina, told me about her partner in her own world. She said she was in love with him, but Queen Beryl kidnapped him and threatened to kill him if she didn't kill us first. And she was telling the truth. I could feel it in my heart."

"Well, you have been friends for a few days," Sailor Moon pointed out. "Maybe you just wanted her to be telling the truth so much that you thought –"

"No, I could feel it," repeated Mina. "You know how we all have some of the characteristics of our Sailor Scout forms even when we're not transformed? Like, Amy's really smart, Lita's a good fighter, and Raye's got a strong spirit?"

"I guess so," said Sailor Moon, nodding weakly.

"Well, I'm really sensitive to other people's emotions," Mina continued. "When Lina told me about her partner, she was really sad. I could feel how much she missed him... and when she tried to attack me, I could feel how much she hated having to do it."

"No kidding...." Sailor Moon rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "So they're really not our enemies?"

Mina shook her head. "I don't think so. Only the new one, the one that looks more machine than alive, actually wants to hurt us."

"We tried to fight it," said Sailor Moon. "It's got some kind of shield that blocks all of our attacks."

"Did you see the car that hit its shield?" asked Mina. "It didn't even flinch at that."

Sailor Moon's eyes flew wide open. "What? A whole car couldn't break through that shield?"

Mina nodded. "I don't think there's anything strong enough to get through."

Sailor Moon sighed. "It's times like these when I wish I didn't have to be the leader." She put her hand on her forehead. "Mina... what would you do, if you were me?"

Mina smiled. "That's easy." She stood up, pausing every few inches as a new muscle cried out in pain. Despite the pain, she managed to keep a straight face as she pulled out her transformation wand. "VENUS POWER!" She twirled and spun her way through the transformation while Sailor Moon watched. When the light faded, she held her final pose, doing her best to tune out the growing aches in her body. Her right arm felt like it was going to split in two at any second, but the rest of the pain was bearable. She sucked it up and smiled. "What would I do?" she repeated rhetorically. "I'd fight to the end, that's what I'd do!" She punched the air emphatically – with her good hand, of course.

Sailor Moon leapt to her feet as well. "That's right! We can't run away just when we're needed most!" She pointed to the mouth of the alley. "Let's go!"

"Didn't we come from that way?" asked Sailor Venus, pointing the other direction.

Sailor Moon looked at the other end of the alley and rubbed her head sheepishly. "Well, I guess I'm off to a pretty lousy start, huh?"

Venus couldn't help laughing despite her growing apprehension. No matter how stressful the situation, Sailor Moon was still, and always would be, Sailor Moon. Still, even considering the exacerbation of the aches as her body shook, it felt good to laugh a bit. After all, with such powerful new enemies, this would probably be her last chance.

*************************************************

Buildings whizzed by as Sailor Jupiter fled the scene of the confrontation with the unconscious Tuxedo Mask on her shoulders. Her thoughts were racing just as quickly. 'What was that thing?' she asked herself again and again. 'Electronic, AND alive? That's impossible! Sailor Mercury's computer can't have been right!' She shook her head in disbelief. 'Whatever it was, it was powerful! If it can just pick us up and throw us without touching us.... How are we supposed to beat that?'

The only answer she received was a low moan from Tuxedo Mask as he began to come to. Jupiter tightened her grip to prevent him from falling off her back. "Just sit tight a sec, okay? I'll find a place to stop and set you down."

"What's going on?" Tuxedo Mask asked groggily. "What happened to me?"

"I didn't see it myself," replied Jupiter, "but we were fighting a new enemy that could slam us into walls with only the power of its mind. That's probably what happened to you, too."

Tuxedo Mask shook his head. "No, I remember now. I saw that enemy you're talking about. It pointed at me, and threw... something. I felt it hit me, and that's the last thing I can remember."

"Something? What kind of something?" asked Jupiter.

"I don't know," replied Tuxedo Mask. "I didn't see anything at all. It must have been invisible."

"Or maybe it wasn't a thing at all..." Jupiter speculated. "Maybe it was attacking you with telekinesis." She turned a corner into an alley and stopped to let Tuxedo Mask to the ground. He stood unsteadily, clinging to a wall for support with the hand that wasn't clutching his stomach. Concern crossed Jupiter's mind as she realized that she hadn't yet made sure he was all right. "How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Not good," he groaned. "My insides are in knots."

"Do you think you can make it on your own?" she asked, quite sure that the answer would be a negative.

Tuxedo Mask stepped away from the wall, groaning with the exertion. "I feel dizzy...."

Jupiter caught him as he collapsed and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, supporting as much of his weight as she could. "Just take it easy," she advised. "Wait until you feel strong enough to move."

"Where is it?" he asked suddenly, his voice still raspy and breathless.

"Where's what?"

"The enemy," spat Tuxedo Mask.

"I don't know," replied Jupiter. "We split up to confuse it. I guess it must have followed Sailor Mercury or Sailor Moon."

"It could come after you at any time," said Tuxedo Mask. "You'd better get out of here."

"I'm not going to leave you behind," Jupiter replied forcefully.

"If it catches us, it'll kill us both," Tuxedo Mask reminded her. "And I can't fight in this condition. You need to find the other Scouts. If you combine your powers, you'll find a way to win."

"And what good will winning do if it requires sacrificing innocent lives?" countered Jupiter. "We don't fight just for the sake of fighting. We fight because we're the only ones who can protect those who can't protect themselves. Right now, that includes you."

"This time, you're fighting to protect yourselves," said Tuxedo Mask. "You can't do that and protect me at the same time."

"Darien..." Jupiter reprimanded him, catching his full attention by using his real name. "How do you think Serena would feel if I let anything happen to you?"

It didn't take much mental effort on Tuxedo Mask's part to picture Serena drowning in a pool of her own tears. "Good point. She doesn't always keep her head in the battle if she's worried about me, does she?" He sighed. "Still, I'm the one who's supposed to protect the Sailor Scouts with my powers, not the other way around."

"Everyone needs someone to protect them sometimes," Jupiter pointed out.

"The other Scouts need your help more than I do," said Tuxedo Mask. "You should go to them, right away. Just forget about me and go!" He pulled his arm away from Jupiter and stepped away, heroically pushing her away, urging her to leave. But without her to hold him up, he collapsed to his knees, muting his heroism with his simple frailty. Jupiter turned back to help him to his feet, but he waved her off. "Just go!" he shouted. "GO!"

Jupiter took a step back and stood square with her hands on her hips. "I'm not leaving you alone," she said firmly. "That means that either you let me take you someplace safe, or we're both going to be here a while."

Tuxedo Mask sighed in defeat. "You're not going to back down, are you?"

Jupiter stepped forward and grabbed him by the shoulders. "Of course not. The Sailor Scouts depend on me for their strength. I can't afford to back down, ever."

Tuxedo Mask looked up at her and smiled as he let himself be hauled to his feet. "All right. Let's hurry, then. You need to get back to the others quickly."

Jupiter smiled back. "Don't worry. They wouldn't dare die before I get there!" She took a first careful step, waited for Tuxedo Mask to move with her, and then took another step, setting a slow pace as the pair moved out of the alley toward shelter... not that any place would provide much shelter if their pursuer found them, but at least they might be able to make themselves harder to find.

*************************************************

Pain.

At first, it was a sudden sensation, in an instant passing from the habitual, calm workings of life to alien waves of electricity wracking Lina's body, filling her from the top of her skull to the soles of her feet, as if sharp pins were poking not only into every inch of her skin, but every inch within her body as well. Pain filled her so completely that it replaced all of her senses. Her body was pain; her world was pain. Within moments, there was nothing else. The juxtaposition between pain and not-pain vanished; the barrier shattered, and the pain filled the spaces where it hadn't been before. Every cell in her body screamed, but Lina could not. Already, her mind had stopped functioning, stopped thinking; but still she could feel, every tiny jolt as a nerve ending fired its report toward her dying brain, billions upon billions of pinpricks summing to a cocoon that surrounded her and filled her and violated her. The torture went on as if it would never end, the pain growing even though it was already greater than any single sensation she had ever felt, greater even than her brain could comprehend, a pain that shadowed the Universe itself... and then, abruptly, it stopped. Everything stopped.

Death.

Lina could feel nothing in the emptiness that failed to fill the space where her body had been. And still was, probably. It wasn't as if electrocution could disintegrate a human body. But whether her body was still intact or not, she could no longer feel its presence. There was a hole in the sightless universe of her senses where her body had always been. Not that she could sense anything around her body, either... but after having learned to take her body's existence for granted over the course of her life, its sudden absence stood out in the void, a senselessness beyond senselessness. Lina suddenly found herself longing for the pain that had torn through her only moments before, willing to accept an eternity of torment rather than this total deprivation of everything, this emptiness, this loneliness.... Loneliness couldn't begin to describe such a state. Loneliness meant that you had only yourself for company. Lina didn't even have herself anymore....

Warmth.

It was a spark of life, seemingly a universe in itself until she felt the space around it and realized that it was merely a tiny spot of heat, deep within her. Yet, tiny as it was, it was still a sensation, and she clung to it like a drifting log on a hostile tide, hoping that it would pull her back to the world of sense. The miniscule point grew as she focused on it, slowly taking on the familiar size and shape of her own body. A body made of warmth, of pure life energy. She no longer cared that her senses were dead. The warmth, the one sensation that she could feel, was all that mattered. Having grown to fill her body, it grew now in intensity, becoming a raging fire within her that rivaled the heat of the sun, or even a powerful fire elemental spell. Yet for all that it should have burned, the flame within her was not the least bit uncomfortable. It was much more like an incredibly hot blush... or, now that she came to think about it, almost exactly like the feeling she'd had when Ranma had held her the night before as she cried over memories of her past. A warmth powerful enough to devour her, but she felt completely safe in its embrace. Somehow, she knew that as long as the delicious heat enveloped her, no harm could come to her.

Cold.

It felt like an eternity before the warmth faded, but it was still far too soon that it began to ebb. As the fire left Lina's body, a damp chill took its place. At first, Lina thought it was merely an overreaction to the sudden removal of such an intense heat, but as her senses returned, she could feel tiny droplets of water on her skin. The sound of her heartbeat echoed within her, and she took a deep breath that smelled of the aftermath of a heavy rainstorm. The air was so thick with water vapor that she coughed it up immediately, her tired muscles forcing her to roll onto her side on the rough asphalt. The jarring pain of coughing was uncomfortable, but as much as it hurt, Lina embraced it gratefully; even pain could be a blessing when the alternative was the emptiness of death. She pressed her arm against the surface of the road, pushing herself up into a sitting position, surprised at how little exertion it took. Once her head was comfortably off the ground, she opened her eyes, but a dense fog prevented her from seeing her surroundings.

"Are you well?" asked a deep voice that seemed to come from inside her head.

"I think so," she mumbled. "I feel kind of woozy, but it doesn't really hurt anywhere."

"Can you stand?" asked the voice. "Can you use your magic?"

"I don't know. Let me try." Lina got to her feet with little trouble and raised her arms. "DIEM WING!" A warm wind blew past Lina, blowing the cold fog away and clearing the air. "Seems to work fine," she announced as she got her first glimpse of her surroundings. She quickly took in the deserted park and the line of empty cars before turning to the mass of machinery and glowing fur that stood beside her. Something seemed familiar about it, but she couldn't quite place it. "Do I know you?" she asked.

"I am Mew Two," it responded. "We are allies in this fight against the Sailor Scouts."

Lina cradled her head in her hands as it began to throb with dull pain. The spell had taken more out of her than she'd thought. "Mewtwo?" she repeated. "So you're the one who helped me?"

"As I said, we are allies," replied Mewtwo. "I thought you would be of more assistance to my cause alive than dead."

Lina's heart nearly froze again. "Dead? You mean, I was...."

Mewtwo nodded. "Your life functions had stopped. I revived them."

"But, how did you... you can bring people back from the dead? That takes incredibly powerful white magic! How can something so –" She broke off, hesitant to use the word 'evil' to describe someone who had just saved her life.

"I do not understand my own power completely yet," answered Mewtwo. "This body, and these powers, truly belong to another."

"Huh?" Lina scratched her head. "You're borrowing your powers from someone else, like a monster? How can you do that if you don't even know how to use them?"

"I seem to have confused you," said Mewtwo. "I am but a clone of an ancient Pokémon known as Mew, created from genetic material found in one of its fossils in a modern scientific laboratory. The scientists in charge of the project sought to create an advanced version of the Mew, and I was the result. According to their estimates, I have all of the powers and abilities of the original Mew, but a stronger mind and body. However, they did not seem to know the true nature of Mew's power well enough for an accurate comparison."

"So you're trying to prove that you're better than the original?" asked Lina. "Well, isn't THAT a familiar story...."

Mewtwo's eyes seemed to narrow behind the visor. "Why would I wish to prove myself better than Mew? What purpose would such actions serve?"

Lina shrugged. "It's what the last clone I met wanted to do. Maybe you're not as evil as I thought you were...."

"Evil?" Mewtwo shook its head. "I am not evil. I merely follow the commands of my master."

"Yeah, I've heard that line before, too. Everyone's just doing their evil master's bidding."

"You do not believe that I am innocent of wrongdoing," said Mewtwo. After a pause, it continued. "I see. You also hold your own wrongdoings against yourself, even when you are coerced. You believe that it would be noble to sacrifice yourself in order to protect the innocent, rather than having to destroy them in order to preserve your own existence. Yet you still act as you are ordered."

"And I hate having to do it," said Lina. "I take it you don't?"

Mewtwo shook its head. "There is nothing wrong with fulfilling one's will to survive. It is all that I have. You have desires, dreams, emotions.... I have life, and nothing more. No purpose, other than to exist." It turned its head to stare into the sky. "And what is a life without purpose? A meaningless existence, worthless both to itself and the world. But to serve one with purpose, and to become an integral part of fulfilling that purpose.... That is a purpose that I can fulfill. Only then do I become useful."

Lina hummed thoughtfully. "That's an interesting way of looking at it. So you're just following orders because you have nothing better to do?"

The glow in Mewtwo's visor disappeared. "You trivialize my situation."

Lina quickly shook her head. "Not at all! What I don't understand is, if you're supposed to be following orders, why are you talking to me instead of killing the Sailor Scouts?"

"Your condition took priority," replied Mewtwo. "I had to make sure that your death and subsequent resurrection did not have any serious side effects on your physical health or mental condition. Besides, I have kept careful track of the locations of the four Sailor Scouts who fled this location. I can proceed with their destruction at any time."

"Really?" Lina rubbed her cheek with a finger. "So, where are they now?"

"Yeah," agreed Ryoko, "where'd they go?"

Lina whirled to face the space pirate and Ranma, while Mewtwo didn't move a muscle at their surprise appearance. "When did you two get here?" Lina demanded.

Ryoko shrugged innocently. "Well, I just happened to be in the neighborhood...."

"Are you okay, Lina?" asked Ranma. "You look a little... burnt."

"Yeah, getting electrocuted tends to do that," Lina replied flippantly. "But thanks to Mewtwo, I'm fine now."

"Mewtwo?" repeated Ranma, staring at the feline Pokémon uncertainly. "Uh...."

"I believe the words you're searching for are 'thank you,'" supplied Mewtwo.

Ranma's eyes darted from side to side, searching for the source of the voice, before he decided that it really wasn't important. "Yeah, thanks," he said.

Ryoko cleared her throat impatiently. "If you guys are finished with the etiquette lessons, I believe we have a job to finish?"

"Yes," agreed Mewtwo. It pointed into the park. "Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus are currently in that direction, about three minutes' flight from this location. I suggest that Ranma accompany Lina to fight them." It raised its other arm to point toward a building across the street. "Sailor Jupiter and the man in the cape are in a warehouse nearly four minutes' flight in that direction. Ryoko, you should deal with them." Finally, it swung its arm slightly to the left. "I will deal with Sailor Mercury myself. She is trying to devise a strategy for defeating us, and I cannot afford to allow her time to finish her work."

"A strategy?" asked Ryoko. "You think it'd work?"

"It might," replied Mewtwo. "It certainly has promise. But it will never come to fruition." With that, it vanished.

Ryoko hummed. "Weird... it talked like it knew what her plan was."

"I think it did," said Lina. "It's some kind of mind reader, among whatever else it can do."

"Can we trust that thing?" asked Ranma. "It gave me the creeps."

"It gave us directions," corrected Ryoko. "I don't care what it is or what it can do; if it can lead me to the Sailor Scouts, I'll follow it straight to Jurai and back if that's what it takes!" She rose into the sky and took off in the direction Mewtwo had indicated as Sailor Jupiter's location.

"I don't care what she thinks," Ranma said to Lina. "I still don't trust that Mewtwo thing."

"Mewtwo saved my life," Lina informed him. "Whatever it is, it's not really evil. It just... doesn't really know what to do with itself."

Ranma chuckled inwardly. "Yeah, but it doesn't turn into a girl when it gets wet," he muttered.

Lina selectively ignored the comment. "Ready to go?" she asked.

Ranma sighed. "Sure. Let's go," he said, looping his arm around her shoulders. Lina nearly jumped at the sudden contact, but once the initial shock was over, she felt her heart racing for a different reason. "Is something wrong?" asked Ranma, concerned.

"No, I'm fine," said Lina. 'It's business,' she reminded herself, wrapping her own arm around Ranma's waist. "LEVITATION!" she shouted. A sharp pang of pain shot through her brain, drawing a cry from her lips before she could bite it back; but aside from the pain, the spell activated as she had expected, and a wave of air lifted her and Ranma slowly off of the ground.

"Something's wrong," said Ranma. "You're having trouble with your magic, aren't you?"

"It's nothing," replied Lina. "I'm just a little tired, that's all."

"That's not what it sounded like to me," said Ranma. "You'd better land. I don't think you should be using your magic for anything dangerous, like flying."

"I'm fine," she repeated. "It only hurt for a second. I can't even feel anything now."

Ranma sighed and tightened his grip on Lina. "All right. Just don't lose it when we're up in the air. I don't want to fall to my death because you can't keep the spell up."

"If you just relax, I'll have a lot less trouble staying up," Lina snapped irritatedly. She easily soared into the sky above Tokyo and flew toward the place where she would meet Sailor Moon and – if she had transformed yet – Sailor Venus. It wasn't an encounter she was looking forward to... but the past days had seen precious few of those anyway. At least, if Mewtwo was as powerful as it seemed, this one would be over quickly.

*************************************************

Sailor Mars took another excruciating step, clenching her teeth against the wrenching in her side as she lifted and dropped her foot for the umpteenth time. She had been walking for an eternity; yet she still had an eternity to go. The vision was still there, still burning a spiritual arrow into her heart, pointing the way to her destination; that direction was all she could feel through the numbing pain. Oblivion lingered on the edge of her consciousness, waiting for the tiniest lapse in her concentration through which it could claim her, but the flame within her heart kept it away... for the time being, at least. But that protection would not last much longer. She had long since felt the last of her life energy ebb away to nothing. It was all she could do to remain conscious and hold on to the power of Mars as her lifeless body struggled to remain on its feet and moving ahead. The Planet Power running through her veins was the only thing keeping her alive now. If she let it go, she would die.

The wound in her side had long since stopped bleeding, but she still clutched it with her left hand as if to prevent what little of her life remained from escaping through the same portal. Her right hand clung to the walls of the buildings she passed, holding her upright against gravity's deadly pull; if she fell now, she would not rise again. Yet in spite of all the strength she could muster, her body was tiring quickly. Her vision was so hazy that she couldn't even see her own hands, or the hair that fell in front of her face every time she lowered her head to take a few breaths before continuing. She couldn't tell anymore whether the beads of water on her cheeks were tears, or simply more of the sweat that poured from her like a waterfall, leaving a trail in her wake that showed traces of blood as early as two blocks back. She didn't know where she was or how far she had left to go – it could be one more step, or one more mile. She couldn't even remember where she was going... only that she had very little time to get there, and if she failed, the Sailor Scouts would be destroyed by a power that she could barely begin to imagine.

One more step, and she slid her hand forward along the wall to find another handhold. Tragically, all she found was the corner of the building. She would have no wall to lean on for the next few steps, requiring her to draw even further from her already depleted supply of energy to cross the – street? alley? There was no way to tell how far it would be to the next wall except to press on until she reached it. Sucking in a deep breath, she pressed harder on her wound and lifted a high-heeled foot, wheezing with the exertion. One step, another step, each one more dizzying than the last. Only two steps from the wall, and already her brain felt like a brick inside her skull. Bent over forwards at nearly a right angle, Sailor Mars lost her balance and fell, quickly taking another step forward to catch herself. Her heel came down on the edge of the curb, and the sidewalk fell away under her toes, dumping her on her face in the street. She heard brakes screeching, and the rush of air passed mere inches from her head as the car swerved to avoid her. She steeled her stomach and rolled to the side, pulling herself onto the curb before another car was forced to attempt the same maneuver.

As she lay there on a sidewalk somewhere in the middle of Tokyo, Sailor Mars heard her breath come out in strangled gasps as her throat closed up, as much from the shock of the near death experience as from having used far too much energy that she didn't have to begin with. The world turned to a swirl of tan-and-navy plaid before her eyes as she began to pass out from lack of oxygen. The endless darkness of oblivion surrounded her, pressing against her, trying to overwhelm and consume her, and she had to fight to keep it away. "Stay... awake!" she croaked, forcing the words out in an effort to stave off unconsciousness. Unfortunately, the world continued to slip away as the power of Mars within her lost its solidity. She stretched out her hands, clasping her fingers as if to hold Planet Power in them, but the energy oozed right through them and out of her body; and through the gap, the blackness poured in, filling her with its horrible taint. She fought to push the darkness back out of herself, but it was like trying to move a giant water balloon with her hands – every time she pushed it away from one part of herself, it bulged into the surrounding areas and continued flooding into her. Her soul cowered in the center of the flood, completely engulfed by the void except for the tiny thread that connected her to Planet Power - her final lifeline.

Then, the darkness grabbed that thread and began to pull on it, and Raye's grip began to slip as the thread slid through her fingers as if it had been greased. 'Somebody, please help me!' she begged as she clung to Planet Power with all of her fading strength. 'Mars... Queen Serenity... anybody! I can't... hold on... forever....'


	12. 11: Through the Pain

A General Time Paradox

Chapter 11: Through the Pain

It was rather fortunate for Sailor Mercury that news tended to travel quickly through the Juuban district, particularly when it concerned monsters attacking anyone who failed to find a safe place to hide. As she ran from the scene of the battle with one eye on her visor, watching the data her computer flashed across the tiny screen, she barely paid enough attention to the rest of the world to avoid running into buildings. Had there been any pedestrians in the streets, she would most likely have run several of them over without even realizing it. She didn't miss the buildings by much, either, as every word that crossed her display seemed to create more questions than it answered....

"It has very powerful psychic energy," she recapped aloud to herself as she slowed to a walk to read the latest calculation, "and it can use that energy to create a barrier impenetrable by any physical object or any form of energy attack. It can also project that energy in the form of telekinesis, lifting objects and manipulating them at will without having to weaken its own protective barrier." All this from a few minutes and a single attack to base the analysis on... at times, Mercury wanted to worship her former self for having created such a useful computer. Still, it had its limits. For all that it had determined about the creature's power, it had not yet come up with a reasonable solution. Every so often, her fingers tapped at the keyboard, posting a new query that invariably met with the same result: NO MATCH.

"There must be a solution!" shouted Mercury, directing her exclamation at the device in her hand.

NO MATCH remained resolutely on the display.

"What about its armor?" she asked, tapping a sequence of keys that would instruct the computer to analyze further the data it had collected on the creature's armor.

"Constructed by humans as a means of controlling the creature's power," replied the computer. "Apparently created specifically for this creature, although parts of the armor seem to be older than the creature itself."

"That's not very helpful," Mercury said aloud, adding the word WEAKNESSES to the query.

NO MATCH was the reply.

"But there must be something we can do!" Mercury stopped to catch her breath, searching for a more fruitful line of inquiry. "What about those incredible new powers we've seen? The boulders, the water... are they really the Sailor Scouts of the Outer Planets?"

"The limited available data seems to match the profile," assented the computer. "However, not enough information is available on the Sailor Scouts of the Outer Planets for an accurate comparison."

"Don't you have any information on them from the Silver Millennium?" asked Mercury.

There was a dauntingly long pause. Finally, the words SILVER MILLENNIUM DATA ARCHIVE ACCESSING... INDEXING... crossed the screen. Sailor Mercury heaved a sigh of relief. "I never realized that the computer had access to these records," she said aloud as she watched the progress meter fill up with the accumulated knowledge of the centuries-gone civilization of the Moon Kingdom.

DATA INDEX COMPLETE, announced the screen. COMPLETE PREVIOUS QUERY? (Y/N)

Mercury's finger slid toward the 'y' key, then stopped. "I have a better idea," she said, tapping in a new command. "Search the archive for any abilities that might be able to penetrate that barrier."

SEARCHING... 62 MATCHES.

"I don't have time to read them all!" Her fingers flew across the keyboard. "Search through those results for techniques that we can perform at our current power level."

SEARCHING... 2 MATCHES.

"That's more like it," said Mercury, pulling up the first file.

"Sailor Box," the article began. "This technique allows the four Sailor Scouts of the Inner Planets to create a barrier through which no enemy force can penetrate, neither to enter nor to leave the box."

Mercury sighed. "It has all the right keywords, but in the wrong order.... I suppose not even the Mercury Computer's search engine is perfect." Despite its inapplicability to the current situation, the technique did sound useful. Mercury transferred it to her own data directory and opened the other file, hoping for the best.

The second file appeared to be an excerpt from a journal written by Sailor Mercury herself on Planet Power. "It seems that many types of enemy barriers have proven effective in guarding against the attacks based on Planet Power. However, we have observed a greater degree of success at penetrating these barriers when two or more elements of Planet Power are combined. Even so, a recent battle (as of this writing) saw my partners and myself fighting an enemy whose protection seemed impenetrable even by all of our techniques combined. Our victory was as much a matter of blind luck as of skill and strategy. Therefore, it is imperative that I discover some means of penetrating the most powerful barrier using the skills that we possess. I shudder to think what the result would be should we find ourselves in a battle the likes of that again without the necessary technique...."

Mercury quickly scanned through the rest of the file, searching for any sign that her predecessor had managed to complete her research, but it seemed to be nothing more than a catalogue of failures – until she got about two-thirds of the way down the file. At that point, the layout of the data changed, becoming a narrow columnar list rather than paragraphs of description. Mercury quickly scrolled back up to see what had brought on the sudden shift.

"Research has been slow recently because the other Scouts are beginning to think that this research is futile," said the final full entry, "but I think I've finally found a solution. Even Mars, who has protested this project from the beginning, seems hopeful about this latest development. It was while we were experimenting with the practice barrier that Venus suggested concentrating a prolonged unified attack against a single point on the barrier. We all chose a spot, marked it, and fired, keeping our energy focused on the same spot. After about ten seconds, a globe of white light formed at the intersection of the beams, and the barrier's computer recorded a penetration. However, not one of the beams actually passed through the barrier. Apparently, the combined beam is capable of weakening the barrier enough to allow penetration in that spot, but some additional element will be required in order to reach the enemy with an attack. What that element might be, however, has yet to be determined.

"Clearly, this result presents an entirely new direction for my research. Unfortunately, there are several problems with the technique that will have to be overcome before it would be effective in battle. Probably the greatest of these concerns is the range at which it is useable. Specifically, we were unable to produce the penetration effect even from a distance of one and a half meters from the barrier. It would be impossible to remain at that range for the ten seconds required for the technique to work. In addition, the targeting of the energy beams must be precise, which is difficult to do without a visual cue as a guide. Furthermore, the technique will still be completely useless if I cannot make it affect a target within the barrier. It is highly unlikely that all of these problems will be overcome through the course of my research, in which case any further experimentation on this result will simply be a waste of effort better spent elsewhere. However, I cannot afford to dismiss out of hand the only result I have yet found. The others already grow impatient with my lack of results... if this turns out to be another blind alley, I fear that they may not be willing to continue contributing their time and power, and I will never find my answer."

From that point, the journal simply began to list the various variations of the technique that Sailor Mercury had tried, not even bothering to list the results of each trial. Apparently, it was a rapid-fire succession of trials that had produced no results. Mercury scrolled down the list quickly, hoping to find good news at the bottom.

Suddenly, an invisible force struck the Mercury Computer, knocking it out of Mercury's hand. She stopped abruptly and looked up, letting the visor retract into her headband as she came face-to-helmet with her armored foe. A single reflexive step backwards was all she could manage before her legs gave out under her from the shock. "Y-you..." she stuttered.

"Why would you be surprised to see me?" asked the creature. "Did you honestly think that you could escape from me?" The blue lights in its visor seemed to bore into her soul as it stared at her.

Mercury swallowed and steeled her nerves. "What are you?" she asked. "What kind of monster are you?"

Surprisingly, the creature shook its head. "I am not a monster. I merely have the misfortune to be employed by one." Before Mercury could parse the unexpected declaration, the creature extended a hand toward the fallen computer, which rose into the air. "As for what I am," the creature continued, "I am Mew Two, greater and more powerful successor to the most powerful Pokémon ever to exist."

'More powerful than the most powerful?' thought Mercury. The oxymoron aside, "Mew Two" seemed to consider this quite an accomplishment. 'Whatever "Pokémon" are, they must be powerful....'

"Pathetic creatures, all of them," said Mewtwo, as if in response to Mercury's thought. "They are willing slaves to humans. Mindless. I now understand what it means to be free, and will nevermore serve any master but myself." With a gesture, Mewtwo brought the computer floating toward it, but hastily drew its hand back as if in fear of touching the device as it approached. Instead, it turned its hand around, causing the unit to spin and tilt in midair so that it could admire the device from all angles. "Still, humans do have their talents. This is quite an interesting little contraption, for a human invention." It stared down at its own armored arm disdainfully. "I'm afraid it has to go." Mewtwo swung its arm quickly to the side, hurling the computer into a brick wall and shattering it into hundreds of tiny pieces. 

The sound of exploding metal jolted Mercury back to her senses. Now that Mewtwo was no longer distracted by her computer, it would be coming after her. She had to escape! She raised her trembling hands. "MERCURY BUBBLES SPLASH!" As the thick fog covered the street, Mercury leapt to her feet and prepared to run. Mewtwo would probably expect her to run away from it, she decided, so she carefully waited until the right moment, and then ran toward the spot where Mewtwo had been, darting to the side at the last second to duck into an alley that she had noticed earlier. Safely hidden from Mewtwo's eyes, Mercury kept her steps as light as she could to prevent any sound from reaching its ears either.

Several steps beyond the mouth of the alley, she smacked face first into something hard and metallic which knocked her down again. A pair of cold blue eyes glared out of the fringe of the fog in front of her. "Did you think you could run away?" asked Mewtwo. "I know exactly where you are at every moment! It is impossible to hide from me!

Panicked, Mercury jumped to her feet again, unsure of where to run but certain that she had to run somewhere. Anywhere. As long as she could get away from Mewtwo....

An invisible force lifted her off the ground before she could take a single step, rotating her into a prone position in midair. She couldn't feel anything supporting her as she floated who-knew-how-far above the ground – the dense fog around her gave her no visual cues to guess at her height – but whatever held her in place prevented her from moving a muscle. Her breathing quickened in fear, but she refused to cry out. She would not give her captor that satisfaction! She simply had to keep her thoughts calm and try to figure out how to escape....

The fog to her left parted, and the tall, shadowy form of Mewtwo stepped into view through the gap. "Somehow, I had expected fighting humans to be... enjoyable. Instead, I find it even more tedious than fighting Pokémon!" It raised a paw, holding it mere inches from Mercury's body. "I could crush you right now, and you could do nothing to stop me!" The stubby fingers flexed, then clenched hard. At that moment, Mercury felt an enormous pressure on her entire torso that pinned her arms to her sides and squeezed the air out of her lungs. Panic set in again, and she fought against the force with all of her strength, causing her head to thrash back and forth as her legs kicked at the air; but the rest of her body remained completely rigid in Mewtwo's grip, the crushing pressure unchanged by her effort.

Realizing the futility of struggling, Mercury quickly calmed herself and focused on the upper half of her body, trying to match Mewtwo's power with her own, but it was like pushing against a brick wall. Mewtwo's mental hold didn't budge an inch, no matter how hard she fought against it. She simply didn't have the physical prowess to resist Mewtwo's mind – maybe someone like Jupiter could overcome such force with pure strength, but Mercury's strength had always been her intellect, and none of the thoughts racing through her mind was of any use to her.

As Mercury felt her eyes begin to bulge out of their sockets, her mouth opened of its own accord to attempt to draw in a breath, but that only gave the last of her air supply an outlet, emptying her lungs completely. Her chest began to collapse under the continued pressure, and her slowing heartbeat echoed in her ears as the world blurred before her eyes. Her diaphragm spasmed repeatedly, trying to force her to breathe, but it caused nothing aside from a great deal of abdominal pain. Her legs began to kick weakly in a final effort to escape, but she was helpless to prevent the continued torture.

Suddenly, the pressure ended. Mercury gasped, then coughed at the abruptness of her inhalation. Her aching lungs simply couldn't get enough air; as much as it hurt to breathe, it was a wonderful sensation... shadowed by the fact that she was still captive in Mewtwo's telekinetic hold.

"That was... interesting," said Mewtwo over Mercury's coughing fit. "A Pokémon would have fainted long before now and suffered no further harm, but your body fights to remain conscious even if it leads to death."

Mercury turned her head to respond, but another bout of coughing pre-empted her speech faculty.

"I wonder," continued Mewtwo; "how will you respond to a different kind of pain?" It held its paws in front of its body, palms down, and closed its fingers. Mercury's legs and arms stiffened, held perfectly horizontal in the psychic extension of Mewtwo's hands. She tried once again to kick free of its grip, but her legs refused to move at her command.

Mewtwo's eyes glowed as it turned its paws so that their palms faced each other in a swift motion that bent Mercury over backwards in mid-cough. The cough caught in her throat, choking her, as her legs and arms were yanked toward the ground while her torso remained in place. Her hips, back, and shoulders dissolved in an explosion of intense tearing pain, and the screams that she had been holding back burst out of her all at once. With a grunt from Mewtwo, the force increased, until Mercury felt as if her body was about to break in half. Yet again, she found herself expending her energy in a futile attempt to break Mewtwo's hold on her, or at least to move at all; but if anything, her efforts only made the pain greater.

Since struggling only seemed to be making the situation worse, Mercury let her muscles relax as best they could under the pressure Mewtwo was applying, hoping to minimize both the pain and the chance of sustaining permanent injury. If she was lucky, her legs or arms would break before her spine did; but until something gave, the pain would continue to mount indefinitely. Of course, there was always the possibility that Mewtwo would again grow bored, but once it was finished torturing her, it would undoubtedly kill her. There had to be a way to escape. There had to be....

She simultaneously felt and heard the sickening snap in her left hip as the pain flared to an instantaneous climax, and her left leg curled under her at an impossible angle. Bile rose in her throat, but she choked it back and bit her lip to keep from screaming in pain and terror. If she screamed, Mewtwo would only enjoy itself even more, but every reflex in her body seemed intent on forcing her mouth open and her voice to full volume despite the uselessness of the act.

Her concentration on not panicking was so intense that it was several seconds before she realized that Mewtwo had once again released the pressure and was examining her. Her left hip was still in agony, but the rest of her body was relieved, however temporarily. She breathed heavily and irregularly, and it wasn't until she felt the tears running down her cheeks that she realized she was crying.

Mewtwo let go of her right leg to grab her left ankle. "Broken?" it asked, turning and pulling her leg to inspect it from all sides. "Do you break so easily? What is the point?" Mercury cried out as each movement sent more pain shooting up the length of her leg, making her sick to her stomach. Before long, even her cries weakened as the nausea drained her beyond the capacity to resist, and it was all she could do to keep from throwing up all over herself.

Finally, Mewtwo let Mercury's leg go slack. It hung straight down at a right angle to the rest of her body, again making her feel sick as it pulled her thigh muscles taut. This time, she really did have to swallow a mouthful of vomit that left a sour aftertaste. It did little to ease the dryness in her mouth. "Please," she croaked. "No more...."

"I have seen humans subject Pokémon to atrocities that you would not believe, in order to learn from them," Mewtwo replied, sounding almost remorseful at this treatment of its fellow creatures. "I wish to learn from you, Sailor Mercury. If this causes you pain, then you must endure it."

"I can teach you!" she cried out desperately. "Anything you want to –" She was cut off by a jolt of pain in her hip as Mewtwo once again grabbed her in both of its intangible hands and forced her legs straight. Before she could restate her offer, the upper and lower halves of her body twisted in opposite directions, upsetting her stomach further and threatening to tear her in two at the waist. Once again, she screamed uncontrollably in agony as Mewtwo applied more and more pressure, despite her effort to remain silent. All she had to do was hold out until Mewtwo grew bored, and then the sweet relief would come again.... She clamped her jaw shut and bit back her screams, doing her best to shut out the pain.

However, this time, it was only seconds before Mewtwo shifted its grip, twisting her in the opposite direction and drawing out fresh screams again. Then, it reversed the force again, and again, wringing her like a wet dishtowel; and each time, the pain seemed to double as her body was twisted in a different, more uncomfortable way. The base of her spine in particular felt like it was about to crack, and Mercury knew that if that were to happen, she would be lucky if losing her legs was the worst that happened to her. But fighting would only turn that possibility into a certainty. There was nothing she could do to stop Mewtwo from having its way with her, a frustration that hurt nearly as much as the pain. Even if Mewtwo were to strip off all of her clothes, she doubted she could feel any more naked.

By the time Mewtwo stopped the wringing torture, Mercury could barely feel the lower half of her body, aside from the fire in her left hip, and her breath came out in halted gasps. Her muscles contracted as if to curl herself up into a ball, but her floating body didn't move. She turned her head to stare up into Mewtwo's cold, unfeeling eyes through the blanket of her own uncontrollable tears. "Please, just finish this," she begged, sobbing despite her best effort to keep her voice strong. "Kill me if you must.... Make the pain stop...."

"This 'pain' causes you to desire death?" asked Mewtwo. "How can that be? Death is final, is it not? From what little I understand of humans, death is the one thing that they fear most. What about pain makes it worse than death?" It raised its hands once again. "It seems I must study further to understand."

"No!" begged Mercury. "Please, no more!" But once again, the pain turned her words into screams as her legs curled over her body, thrusting her ankles under her armpits without allowing her knees to bend. This time, it was her stomach and right hip that felt most of the pain, since no position was any less uncomfortable for her dislocated left leg. Sailor Mercury didn't even bother trying to hold back her screams, since it was obvious that whether or not she screamed, the outcome would be the same. Endless torture that she was powerless to stop, until Mewtwo finally went too far and killed her....

But it was becoming more difficult to think as the constant contortions weakened her body, tiring her until all of the sensations around her became a mere haze. Only the pain kept her awake, depriving her of the relief of unconsciousness and forcing her to experience every second of her torture. Relentless pain... screaming uncontrollably, even though her throat burned and she had no more energy or breath to scream with... Mewtwo's words burrowing directly into her mind... the fog that hung in the air sealing her away from the rest of the world... screaming... shudders running up her spine... cold... afraid... pain... screaming and screaming... endlessly, helplessly, hopelessly screaming....

*************************************************

Sailor Mars wiped the sweat from her brow yet again, but her entire forehead was soaked again even before she could flick the armful of droplets onto the desert sand to be instantly vaporized by the burning silicon crystals. Even without the wound in her side that had plagued her trek across Tokyo, the hours of direct sunlight and radiating sand were beginning to make her wish she were bleeding to death in a filthy gutter somewhere.

"I was," she moaned through her parched throat. "I was as good as dead, as soon as I ran out of energy... so how did I get to this desert?" She fingered her formerly wounded side. "I'm completely healed too... what's going on?" Shielding her eyes from the glare as best she could, Mars searched in all directions for any sign of something that wasn't sand. The same boring, bone-dry sand piled in windswept dunes, covering a wide enough area to have swallowed Tokyo several times over. Another gust of that hot wind blew past her, further irritating the sunburns that covered every inch of exposed flesh.

Mars held her arms close to her body to minimize her exposure and thanked the gods that she was wearing shoes, even if the high heels tended to dig their way into the sand and threaten to trip her at every step. Trying to cross this desert in bare feet would have been the death of her long before now. "What did I do to deserve this?" she wondered aloud. "And how much longer do I have to endure...?" She looked up again and realized that she had lost her way. "It all looks the same. How do I know I haven't just been walking in circles all this time or something?" She turned to look at her footprints in the sand, expecting to see a graceful curve that vanished into the distance; but there were only five prints there, quite visible, and before that a perfectly smooth expanse of sand.

"That's impossible!" protested Mars as she stared at the high-heeled shoeprints as if the remainder would appear if she glared hard enough. "I know I've walked more than five steps! I've been here for...." How long? She couldn't remember anything earlier than a few minutes ago... yet it felt as if she'd been walking forever! "What's going on?" she asked again. "What am I doing here?"

As Mars contemplated her situation, the wind blew by again, reminding her of the danger of remaining where she was for too long. She hunched down and started to walk again, keeping the footprints to her back. The dry desert air scratched the inside of her lungs, sucking what little moisture remained right out of her body. The sand appeared red to her burning eyes as she progressed, despite the fact that the sun was still at its highest and showed no sign of setting. Her head began to throb in pain, causing her entire body to shudder uncontrollably. One of her shoes spun on its heel, sending her sprawling to the ground. As she fell onto the sand, her entire front felt as if it were on fire, even through the layer of clothing she was wearing. With a cry of pain, she quickly got to her feet and brushed the sand from her arms and legs, producing a relaxing coolness that lasted less than a second before the sun reasserted its influence.

When she tried to take another step, Mars found herself staggering dizzily, nearly falling face first into the sand again. Her vision swam so much that she couldn't even see her own footprints, and had to content herself with choosing a random direction to walk. On the fifth step, her foot went right through the surface of the sand, and she quickly fell backward to avoid plunging into the unstable ground in front of her. The sand burned her rump as she sat down to pull her foot free of the desert floor, but she ignored that in favor of wiping the grit and sweat from her eyes enough to see what lay in front of her. The relatively flat ground behind her and to the sides sloped slightly downward starting at the spot where her foot had sunk, forming a giant funnel. The sand at the sides of the funnel slid down toward the center, where there was apparently a hole of some kind for it to drain out the bottom.

"That was close," Mars panted, still short of breath from the shock of stepping into the shifting sand. "If I'd fallen in there, I'd never have gotten out." As she caught her breath, the warmth of the sand she was sitting on finally registered, and she quickly stood up and brushed herself off again. "Guess I can't go forward," she decided, with a last glance toward the pit.

With a sigh, she turned to skirt the edge of the pit, unwilling to retrace her steps and more afraid of losing the only landmark she had found than of slipping and falling into the deadly funnel. The wind blew at her face now, but she lowered her head and forged onward, trying her best to keep her balance. The shifting sand hissed as the wind whistled past, and Mars' tired ears heard sibilant whispers in the sound. "Yessssss... blissssss...." the pit seemed to call to her.

Mars shook her head and covered her ears. She was NOT going crazy and hearing voices in the sand, and she was definitely not going to let those nonexistent voices entice her to her death! She turned reluctantly away from the pit and turned her eyes to the impossibly distant horizon, wondering whether the desert even HAD an end... but the desert was no longer as empty as it had been. Somewhere in front of her loomed an object whose features she couldn't quite discern; even when she squinted, all she could make out was a tall black blob. She tentatively took a few steps toward the figure, bringing it only slightly into focus. Now it appeared to be roughly human in shape, but so anorexically thin that it was little more than a skeleton.

"Hello?" she called to the figure. "Are you human?" The figure didn't respond, and Mars sighed in exasperation. "I guess it was too much to hope for. It must be just a mirage, or maybe a cactus or something." Curious, she continued her halting walk toward the shape, anxious to determine exactly what it was. But even as she approached arm's length from the figure, it was still no more than a skeletal shadow to her eyes – a shadow that cast no shadow on the floor of the desert beneath it. Mars looked down to verify that she had a shadow – a nearly imperceptible noon shadow, but it was there – and then back to the sand below the shadowed figure in front of her, which was just as bright as the rest of the desert. There were no marks in the sand at its feet, either – no footprints, tire tracks, or any other indication of how it had come to be there. Then again, Mars still had no idea how SHE had come to be there.

As she continued to contemplate the existence of the strange object, its right arm suddenly moved, provoking a startled shriek from Sailor Mars. The arm slowly rose until it was pointing straight at her face, and Mars quickly backed away from it until she was sure that she was out of reach. "Hello?" she said again, hoping that the now-animate figure might respond. "What are you?"

The shadow gave no indication that it had heard Mars. It merely stood still for a few seconds with its arm aimed at her face as if preparing to fire a pistol between her eyes, then raised one leg to take a slow, deliberate step forward. A chill ran up Mars' spine as she watched the figure move toward her, leaving no footprints as it advanced. Something about it set her senses on edge, particularly the way it seemed to want to touch her. As little as she knew about it, she was pretty sure that coming into contact with it couldn't be a good thing. She took another step backward, but the shadow seemed to be moving more quickly as it picked up speed. "Stay back!" she shouted as she retreated from the gaunt figure. She stepped to the side, hoping that it would mindlessly continue on its straight course and pass her by, but it smoothly turned to follow her, advancing as quickly as she was backing away. She wanted to turn and run, but some primal conditioning forced her to keep her gaze fixed on the figure as if in fear that it would leap forward to touch her the instant she looked away.

The figure held Mars' attention so intently that she didn't even feel the ground give way beneath her until she had stepped into the pit of shifting sand with both feet. The ground swallowed her to her knees in the instant it took her to throw her weight forward and brace her arms on the sand in front of her. The sand beneath the surface was soothingly cool, but she couldn't let herself be deceived – it was not a relief, but a deadly force, dragging her downward to her doom. She pushed with her arms, trying to pull her legs out of the sand, but the force that held her in place was too strong to overcome without leverage. However, she seemed to at least be balancing the downward force enough to prevent herself from sinking any deeper, at least for the moment. Satisfied that the quicksand posed no immediate threat to her life, Mars returned her attention to the approaching entity and saw to her horror that it was advancing even more rapidly, as if spurred onward by the promise of its entrapped, helpless prey. Within seconds, it would be upon her, and she doubted that it would hesitate at all to approach the quicksand and exact whatever horrible fate it had planned for her. She had only seconds in which to act, to extract herself from the deathtrap and resume her flight from the specter. But as she tried to focus on her surroundings, searching for a glimmer of hope, the torturous heat that she had ignored in her panic began to take its toll once again. The rays of sunlight beating down on her were so harsh that they felt solid, like massive weights pressing down on her, pushing her deeper into the sand, and the effort of fighting it made her arm muscles ache. It hurt so much.... She didn't want to have to fight anymore. She wanted to just let go and sink into the sand, let it take her down into its depths and smother her, ending her suffering forever. At least it would be a painless death, while she knew nothing of what awaited her if the shadow managed to lay its hands on her. It was a choice between two deaths, neither of which was at all pleasant, but if there was no other option, the quicksand certainly had its appeal. "Yes, bliss," indeed.

"No! I'm not beaten yet!" she shouted, simultaneously directing the exclamation at her own thoughts and the shadow. The shadow paid her words no more heed than it had in the past, walking forward until it was almost close enough to touch her. It stretched its arm toward her until she could feel its cold aura on her face. The chill was a welcome escape from the sun's heat, and she suddenly felt much safer in the presence of the mysterious figure. But as her headache faded to the background and her senses returned, she remembered her initial impression of the shadow, and her blood froze. It was trying to lure her into a fatal calm so that it could take her! Panicked, Mars did the first thing that came to mind. She clasped her hands together with the index fingers pointed outward and aimed them at what appeared to be the figure's chest. "MARS FIRE IGNITE!"

She hadn't expected the apparition to be affected by her attack, but to her amazement, the flames caught. The shadow stumbled backwards, waving its arms in a vain attempt to beat out the fire, but the tongues of flame resisted its efforts, feeding on whatever material its body was made of. Writhing in apparent pain, it dropped to the desert floor and rolled, covering itself in sand, but even as the flames died down completely, the black corpse fell still. Mars heaved an elated sigh of relief, her chest pressing against the sand beneath her as she inhaled.

"Damn!" she shouted, suddenly remembering how much danger she was still in. "The quicksand!" She pressed her palms to the ground and pushed herself up, surprised at how little effort the action took. She turned her head to see how much deeper she'd sunk while watching the shadow burn to death, but to her amazement, the sand was still only up to her knees as she lay nearly horizontal on the solid ground at the pit's edge. Letting the sand hold her weight, she experimentally tried to bend her knees and felt enough resistance to prevent her from extricating her legs, but much less than there had been before. She stretched out her arms and dug her hands into the sand, then pulled with all of her might. For the most part, her effort served only to scoop the sand toward her, but she also felt her legs sliding out of the quicksand. Slowly, she worked her way onto firm ground little by little until she was able to bend her knees and pull herself completely out of the pit. She didn't rest, though, until she had crawled far enough to stretch out and collapse in exhaustion a safe distance from the deadly pit, exhilarated enough that even the burning sand no longer bothered her.

It was, however, a tragically short celebration. The dry desert air did little to invigorate her, and the still-smoldering figure not ten feet away didn't help her calm down either. Within a minute, Sailor Mars had forced herself to her feet and started walking yet again, leaving both the quicksand and the shadow behind as she set off into the endless wasteland in her increasingly futile search for salvation.

*************************************************

Jupiter lifted Tuxedo Mask's arm from her shoulders, letting him sit down on one of the smaller crates in the warehouse she had selected to be his hiding place. "You sure you'll be okay by yourself?" she asked.

"I told you; don't worry about me," Tuxedo Mask repeated for the umpteenth time. "You've been away from the others for too long already."

Jupiter nodded. "I know. I just had to make sure that you'd be safe."

"I'll be fine," he assured her. "Now, go make sure the other Scouts will be safe."

"And you stay right here until the fighting is over," Jupiter admonished him. "Don't try to be a hero any more today."

"No worries there," said Tuxedo Mask, rubbing his chest. "My ribs have taken enough of a pounding for one day. I'm perfectly willing to sit this one out."

"Good," replied Jupiter with a smile. "I'll be back as soon as I can, I promise." She quickly made her way back to the entrance, pausing every few seconds to turn back and reassure herself that nothing had happened to Tuxedo Mask. 'You're being paranoid,' she told herself. 'Nothing's going to happen to him. The enemy doesn't even know where he is.'

Jupiter pushed the side door open just enough to peer both ways down the alley, convincing herself that she wasn't being observed as she slipped out. She closed the door firmly, leaving no sign of her entry, and left the alley en route to the site of the group's first encounter with their latest foe.

"Hey, where do you think you're off to?" asked a familiar voice. Jupiter turned to see Ryoko leaning casually against the wall of the warehouse where Tuxedo Mask was hiding. "You sure took long enough in there," Ryoko continued, pushing herself away from the wall and casually striding toward Jupiter. "What were you doing with that guy? Giving him a goodbye kiss and then some?"

Jupiter raised her fists defensively. "I'm warning you, if you lay so much as a finger on him, I'll -"

"Relax," said Ryoko. "I don't care about your precious Tuxedo Ass, or whatever he calls himself." She raised a hand, summoning her energy blade and pointing it at Jupiter. "I'm here for you."

Jupiter defiantly gritted her teeth. "What's the matter, can't you fight fair?"

Ryoko shrugged. "What are you talking about? It's one on one this time. Can't get much fairer than that, can you?"

"You've got that sword and shield," Jupiter pointed out. "I'd call that an unfair advantage."

Ryoko looked down at the hand that was holding her sword. "Maybe you've got a point," she admitted. "All right. We'll play it your way." The sword vanished. "No sword, then. And as long as you don't use that lightning move of yours, I won't fire any energy blasts. Fair?"

Jupiter's jaw nearly dropped in shock. "Are you sure?" she asked, then mentally berated herself for wasting the precious opportunity.

Fortunately, Ryoko merely laughed at Jupiter's hesitation. "It's not like I need any of it to beat you. We'll just duke it out hand to hand."

"All right," Jupiter agreed. "I accept!"

"Good choice," said Ryoko. She leapt into the air and came down with her fist aimed at Jupiter's head. Jupiter leapt backwards to avoid the crushing punch, then sprang forward to deliver a punch of her own, which Ryoko nimbly slid sideways to evade. Jupiter followed with a kick at Ryoko's head, but Ryoko grabbed her ankle and twisted it hard. Jupiter spun with the force, using Ryoko's aid to deal her a swift kick in the face with her free leg. She had expected the blow to break Ryoko's grip, but Ryoko managed to hold on to Jupiter's ankle, quickly twisting it the other way. This time, Jupiter had no way to react, and the knee that had been injured the night before gave a twinge of pain as it twisted from the combined force of Ryoko's grip and her own momentum. She lost her balance and fell, landing flat on her face.

Seizing the advantage, Ryoko took to the air, still firmly holding Jupiter's right ankle. Jupiter swung her left leg upwards, hitting Ryoko's arm just above the wrist. The blow was enough to finally break Ryoko's grip, and Jupiter fell the several feet to the ground, athletically rolling with her landing to avoid smashing her head open. She stopped on her feet and looked up to see Ryoko still floating in the air and smiling down at her. There was something in that smile that Jupiter didn't like – something almost evil. Something that told her quite clearly that whatever Ryoko was about to do, she wouldn't like.

Still wearing the same evil grin, Ryoko dropped straight down to the ground, and Jupiter braced herself for the next attack. However, to her surprise, Ryoko continued to descend, rapidly vanishing beneath the surface of the street. Jupiter stared for a while at the spot where Ryoko had disappeared, waiting for her to emerge, but there was no sign of her opponent. As she watched for Ryoko to return, however, a horrifying thought occurred to her: Ryoko could likely move anywhere invisibly under the cover of the street's surface. She scanned the ground for signs of Ryoko's presence, stepping nervously with both feet as if trying to have as little contact with it as possible.

Suddenly, a hand closed around her left ankle and pulled her foot beneath the asphalt. Her right foot came down hard on the street, only to be swallowed in the same way. She tried to pull her feet free of Ryoko's grip as she went down, but Ryoko held her too firmly. Jupiter stuck her arms out in an attempt to find a handhold, but her hands went through the street as if it were made of air. There was something there – she could feel the sensation of solid matter all around her – but she couldn't touch it, much less hold herself up or prevent Ryoko from dragging her completely into the ground.

As her head went under the surface, she took a deep breath and clapped her legs together, pinning one of Ryoko's wrists between her feet. She felt Ryoko's arm wiggle in her grasp as Ryoko tried to fight her way free, but she doggedly held on as she bent down to grab Ryoko with her hands. With a final sharp tug, Ryoko's hand popped free, and for a single terrifying moment, Jupiter hung in the cold, lightless void with no connection to the surface and no hope of escape. Then her hand closed on Ryoko's arm, and to her amazement, she felt relief at the cold-hearted killer's touch. The fact that she wasn't alone in the void, even if her company was an enemy, helped her calm down enough to collect her thoughts. Fighting off panic, she clung to Ryoko's arm, the only solid object in reach.

A foot slammed into Jupiter's chest, nearly costing her her grip as it forced the air out of her lungs in a single gasp. Having dealt its initial kick, the foot remained, pressing into her chest with enough force to push her away despite her firm hold on Ryoko. As Ryoko's arm began to slide through her fingers, she realized that Ryoko was trying to force her to let go, leaving her trapped forever beneath the ground. Her lungs were already aching from the combination of the blow to the chest and her lack of oxygen, making it that much more difficult to hold on. Frantically, she scrabbled for a better grip, but was left holding only Ryoko's wrist, and her sweaty palms were so slippery that she doubted she could prevent Ryoko's hand from sliding completely out of her grasp. Jupiter's entire body was convulsing now from lack of oxygen, and she was so dizzy that she couldn't even tell which way was up. She tried to focus all of her energy into her fingers, but her lungs threatened to force her to inhale, and she didn't dare imagine what would happen if she gave in to that urge.

Still, her fingers were slipping as she willed herself not to succumb to her body's need for oxygen, and she was fighting a losing battle on both fronts. But it was her lungs that gave in first, and she gasped sharply, instantly easing the pain in her chest a bit. The pressure that Ryoko was applying still made breathing difficult, but to her amazement, there was air underground – or at least, a close enough semblance that she could breathe. Another surge of energy shot through her as she realized that her biggest problem was over, and even as Ryoko managed to free her arm from Jupiter's grip, Jupiter wrapped her legs around Ryoko's waist and squeezed with all of her might to avoid being dislodged.

With most of her lower body in contact with Ryoko, Jupiter could feel the subtle shifting of Ryoko's muscles as Ryoko moved, so she was no longer fighting completely blindly. She anticipated Ryoko's series of punches and deflected each one with ease until she noticed a slight change in the way Ryoko held her right arm. She had less than a second to bring both arms up and grab Ryoko's wrist as she swung her arm down, and the subtle hum of Ryoko's energy blade millimeters from her face confirmed her guess. Before she could recover from the shock, she felt Ryoko's left fist slam into her gut, knocking the wind out of her, and her legs loosened their grip of their own accord. Ryoko swung herself around to Jupiter's back, wrapping her left arm around Jupiter's throat and squeezing, cutting off Jupiter's air supply before she could inhale again. Still dizzy from having held her breath earlier, Jupiter felt the black curtain descending over her mind again as she reached up with her right hand to try to pry Ryoko's arm away, still keeping Ryoko's sword arm at bay with her left.

With a bit of cursory struggling, Jupiter managed to buy herself enough room to breathe, and sucked in air in huge gasps. For the moment, it was a standoff, but Jupiter's muscles were tired, and Ryoko had the advantage of maneuverability underground. It was up to Jupiter to take the initiative. She swung her legs up, flipping over Ryoko's head to end up behind her, still holding both arms firmly. Once again, she wrapped her legs around Ryoko's waist, this time from behind. Ryoko immediately twisted from side to side, trying to tear her arms from Jupiter's grip, but Jupiter held on with adrenaline-boosted tenacity, preventing Ryoko from moving her arms or bringing her sword to bear. Still, it was no more than a waiting move, buying Jupiter time to recover from the near-asphyxiation but not helping her defeat Ryoko at all.

She hadn't had long to recover, however, before Ryoko started to move again, this time straight up toward the surface. They emerged into the open air together, Jupiter still clinging for dear life to Ryoko's back. "Not bad," Ryoko said admiringly as she flew into the sky. "I didn't expect you to be able to survive this long."

"You cheated!" Jupiter panted. "You said you wouldn't use your sword!"

"You should count yourself lucky you lived long enough to complain about it," said Ryoko. "I've gotta admit, I can understand why Ranma had such a hard time killing you."

"I'm a lot harder to kill than you think!" retorted Jupiter, as she felt the fresh air revitalizing her and giving her a second wind. She gave Ryoko's arms a sharp tug, knocking Ryoko slightly off course as she flew, but Ryoko quickly straightened out and turned her head to glare at Jupiter.

"So that's the way you want to play it, eh?" She stopped in midair and turned to face away from the building alongside which she was floating. "Then we'll do it the hard way!" She suddenly rocketed backwards, giving Jupiter only seconds in which to act before she would be slammed into the wall with deadly force. She hastily disentangled herself from Ryoko's back and threw herself downward, turning as she fell so that she could cling to the side of the building with her fingers and feet, slowing herself down a bit before continuing her plummet to the ground. Her right knee twisted as she landed on her feet, curling her leg under her just in time to take the entire weight of her body as she fell on top of it. Fire shot up and down the length of her leg, intense burning heat that drew a cry of pain from her throat even before it had peaked. She blinked away the tears that welled up in her eyes and sat up, wondering whether she could stand without putting any weight on the damaged leg.

Ryoko landed beside Jupiter and stared down at her without a touch of concern on her face. "Bet you broke a few bones in that fall, eh?" she asked tauntingly. "Maybe that'll slow you down a bit." She licked her lips as she drew her energy blade, its glow playing eerily across her face. "Let's see you dodge this!" she shouted as she stabbed downward. Jupiter quickly rolled out of the way, much relieved to notice that the pain in her leg faded slightly as she moved. At least it wasn't broken.

More confident now that she knew she wasn't too badly injured, Jupiter rolled away from Ryoko's follow-up sword swings and got to her hands and knees, then launched herself at Ryoko like a spear, catching the space pirate completely off guard. Ryoko had no time to react as Jupiter's shoulder slammed into her gut, but Jupiter wasn't finished yet. She wrapped her arms around Ryoko's waist and shouted "JUPITER THUNDER CRASH!"

"What the –?" was all Ryoko had time to get out before the electricity surged through her body. Now it was Ryoko's turn to scream in pain as she took to the air, forcing Jupiter to let go or be at Ryoko's mercy again. From a safe height, Ryoko glared down at Jupiter, putting a hand to her charred face. "You... you bitch! You weren't supposed to use that attack!"

"That was payback for the sword," replied Jupiter. "Now, are you going to come down here and fight fair or not?"

"Oh, we'll fight," Ryoko assured her with a venomous tone. "I've toyed with you long enough! No more holding back this time! You're going to die!" She drew her sword once again and set her sights on Jupiter, and Jupiter could see the burning rage in her eyes even from a distance. Jupiter took a step backwards to dodge the attack that she knew was coming, but her bad leg twisted again and she lost her balance, landing in a sitting position as Ryoko swooped down at such an incredible speed that Jupiter had no chance to react.

'Now I've gone WAY too far,' was about all that had time to run through her mind as she watched Ryoko approach, that same luster in her eyes promising that this time, she would not miss. Time seemed to have slowed to a crawl once again, but Jupiter couldn't have moved if Ryoko had been frozen in place. She could only sit still and wait for the energy beam in Ryoko's hand to swing down and slice her skull apart. 'I really pissed her off... and now I'm going to die for it.'

*************************************************

"Haven't we run far enough?" asked Sailor Moon as she and Sailor Venus emerged onto another busy city street. "We've obviously left them way behind. There are still people here!" In fact, pedestrians were hastily moving aside as they passed, well aware of the circumstance that would have led the Sailor Scouts to appear and not anxious to meet whatever monster they were fighting. When Venus failed to respond, Sailor Moon lunged forward to grab her by the shoulder. "Hey, Venus!"

Venus gasped at Sailor Moon's touch and whirled to face her with fire in her eyes. "Oh, it's just you," she said once she had calmed down.

"Of course it's just me!" said Sailor Moon indignantly. "Who did you think it was?"

"Sorry," Venus apologized. "I wasn't thinking." She shook her head. "I mean, I was thinking about something else. I forgot you were even here."

"How could you forget ME?" whined Sailor Moon. "We're best friends! We're partners!"

"I know, I know," said Venus. "I just have a lot on my mind right now."

"You mean, about our enemies?" asked Sailor Moon.

Venus nodded. "I guess what it comes down to is... I'm scared to fight again. I know if we go back there, we're going to lose. That's why I was running away."

"We were just splitting up so that we could regroup later," Sailor Moon reminded her.

"That's how it started," Venus agreed. "But the more I thought about it, the more I thought about how it felt to be stuck in midair, totally helpless... I realized that I felt safer running away. I wasn't thinking about going back at all."

"You won't be alone this time," Sailor Moon said comfortingly. "I'm here with you, and Mercury and Jupiter will be there too. We'll fight that thing together, and we'll beat it together, right?"

A persistent background noise was tugging at Venus' ear, but she ignored it. "I don't know.... There was really nothing I could do. Even if all four of us are there, will it make a difference?"

"It has to!" Sailor Moon put in. "There's no such thing as an unbeatable enemy."

"Maybe we just haven't met one until now," Venus returned darkly.

"Ohhhh!" Sailor Moon groaned. "Don't be such a grumpy-skirt! Mercury's working on a plan that'll knock that guy right out of his armor! You said so yourself, in the alley. We can't just give up!"

Venus sighed. The noise that she'd noticed before was gone now, which only made her feel certain that it had been important somehow. "I said that to cheer you up... but once I've thought about it, I really don't know if I meant it." The street was deserted now, too... had everyone suddenly vanished? Was that what the noise had been about?

"I'm sure you probably –" Sailor Moon began.

"DUCK!" shouted Venus, throwing herself and Sailor Moon to the ground as a fireball sailed just overhead and exploded harmlessly on the sidewalk. Seconds later, two pairs of feet hit the street nearby with quite a bit of force.

"Hey, watch what you're doing!" said Ranma. "We were almost pancakes!"

"Sorry," replied Lina, her voice sounding a bit tired and weak as she sat down in the middle of the street with her hand on her forehead. "I felt a little dizzy."

"I warned you about using your magic!" Ranma admonished her. "I'm telling you, there's something wrong with it!"

"I think you might be right," Lina agreed. "I guess it's up to you, Ranma."

Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus quickly climbed to their feet as Lina began to crawl toward the opposite sidewalk. "There's something wrong with her," said Venus.

"Then maybe we have a fighting chance," replied Sailor Moon. She pointed at Ranma. "I don't know how you managed to find us way out here," she said, "but we won't run away from you any more!"

Ranma crouched into a fighting stance. "Then bring it on!"

Sailor Moon removed her tiara and held it in one hand. "MOON TIARA MAGIC!"

Ranma laughed inwardly. "Like I haven't seen that trick a hundred times."

Ignoring Ranma's remark, Sailor Moon hurled the tiara at him. Ranma easily leaned aside to dodge the projectile, then leapt forward and thrust his palm into Sailor Moon's stomach, knocking her to the ground.

"Sailor Moon!" Venus jabbed her finger toward Ranma, her earlier reluctance no match for the strength of her friendship. "VENUS CRESCENT BEAM SMASH!"

Ranma leaned back, letting the beam pass in front of his face. "You need to work on your aim. Or maybe it's the fact that you always shout before you –"

"Ranma, look out!" shouted Lina. Ranma felt the incoming attack and ducked just in time as Sailor Moon's tiara whizzed through the space where his head had been, slicing a few millimeters off the end of his pigtail.

"VENUS CRESCENT BEAM SMASH!" This time, Ranma was too focused on Sailor Moon's tiara to hear Venus' attack. The beam hit the side of his head squarely with the force of a thrown brick, nearly concussing him. Still reeling, he stood up, only to feel Sailor Moon's clenched hands smack into his gut, knocking the air out of him.

"Why, you...." He brought his hands in front of his body without even bothering to look. "MOUKO TAKABISHA!" The ball of energy formed with Sailor Moon at its center, and he heard her satisfying scream of pain even before he released the attack toward Sailor Venus, not caring what would happen to the girl within. The ball of light exploded right in front of his face, blinding him and sending him flying backward.

"Sailor Moon!" Venus shouted as she ran to her fallen comrade's side. Sailor Moon's face and clothes were covered in dark soot, dotted with the occasional spot of oozing blood for color. While Venus dropped to her knees, hesitant to touch Sailor Moon but certain that she had to do something about her injuries, the burnt girl sat up on her own and coughed up a mouthful of black dust. "Are you okay, Sailor Moon?" asked Venus, putting her arm behind Sailor Moon's back to support her.

"I think so," Sailor Moon replied between painful-sounding coughs. "But that really hurt!" she added in her whiniest tone.

"You're fine," diagnosed Venus, letting go of Sailor Moon to turn her most furious glare on Ranma as he also rose to a sitting position. "You...."

Ranma rubbed his head and groaned. Opening his eyes revealed nothing but bright light, and for a few seconds he thought he was dead... except for the pain. He felt like his skin had been torn from his body, but at least his hair still seemed to be intact. "What the –" Before he could finish his question, something heavy fell on top of him and knocked him on his back again. The person sitting on his chest was barely visible through the spots swimming in his eyes, and he couldn't make out any details at all. He felt a pair of feminine legs pressing against his sides, the bent knees at his ribcage, and a pair of fists pounded his face several times before he could raise his arms to ward them off.

"You monster!" screamed Venus as she clawed at Ranma's face. Ranma reached up to grab her arms, but pure adrenaline gave her the strength to force her way to his throat and gouge her thumbs into his windpipe. He pushed at her arms, trying to break her grip, but her fingers curled around the back of his neck and held on with a force that his weary, aching muscles couldn't overcome. He gasped for air, but the pressure cut off his air supply, making him even dizzier.

Suddenly, with another bright flash and a shriek from Sailor Venus, the pressure on his throat and chest disappeared, replaced by the lingering heat from whatever had dislodged his attacker. He heard her land just to his right, and turned his head to the left to see Lina sitting up with her arm extended toward him. "Get up, Ranma!" she shouted, sounding very out of breath.

It took Ranma less than two seconds to figure out what had happened. "Lina? Did you use your magic again?" She didn't respond. "Are you okay?"

"Watch out! FIREBALL!" Ranma felt the rush of hot air as the fireball passed over him, forcing Sailor Venus to dodge. He rubbed his eyes, finally clearing them enough to make out the details of Lina's face. Her intense pain was easy to see in her expression, and there was no mistaking the way she was hunched over, her left hand clutching her stomach.

"Cut it out!" he yelled at her. "You're going to hurt yourself like that!"

"Until you can fight, I won't let her touch you," said Lina, taking aim for another spell.

"I'm fine!" snapped Ranma. "But you have to stop using your magic!"

"FIREBALL!" Lina shouted again, crying out as the flames left her hand. Her arm jerked involuntarily, sending the projectile wide of its target. She coughed, spraying droplets of blood onto the street. "That was... most of it. But I think I have one good Fireball left in me...."

"Stop it!" Ranma shouted, leaping to his feet. "You're gonna die!"

"Without my magic, I'm no good to you anyway," Lina pointed out morosely. "But maybe I can take one of them out with me...." She glanced meaningfully at Sailor Moon, who was once again lying unmoving in the street where Venus had left her.

"I said cut it out! They're not worth it!"

Lina looked up at Ranma and smiled, the blood dribbling down her chin casting the otherwise peaceful gesture into a grim light. "Ranma... promise me you won't let Queen Beryl hurt Gourry."

"Quit talking like you're giving up!" spat Ranma, swinging his arm emphatically.

Lina's smile widened. "Good enough." She turned her arm toward Sailor Moon's still form. "FIREBALL!"

"NO!" Ranma screamed as he leapt forward, but he was too late to stop her from trying to cast the spell. The fireball exploded in Lina's hand, throwing her brutally to the street. Ranma landed just short of her as she hit the asphalt and crawled to her side to cradle her limp body in his arms. "Lina..." he whispered as he felt the first tears forming in his eyes. "Why?"

"Why?" echoed Venus, her own tears falling onto the folds of her skirt as she watched the scene unfold. "Amelia... you didn't even want to kill us. Why did you sacrifice yourself this way?" Her hands involuntarily rose to her chest and clenched into fists as if trying to hold her breaking heart in one piece. The emotions within her, a combination of Ranma's and Lina's, were so strong that she instantly forgot how many times they had tried to kill her. "Please..." she pleaded silently. "Don't let it end this way...."


	13. 12: As Long as We Survive

A General Time Paradox

Chapter 12: As Long as We Survive

Uranus cringed at each scream that rose from the alley below as Mewtwo twisted Sailor Mercury's body up like a pretzel. Her hands clenched into fists as she stared down into the traces of thin fog that filled the alley, and more than once she had to forcefully restrain herself from leaping off the edge of the roof to Mercury's aid. There were other sounds amid the screams, pops and cracks that had to signal Mercury's body being torn apart from the inside, but the poor, brave girl was living through it all. The whole horrible, twisted nightmare. She just wouldn't give in... and until she did, it would just go on and on....

Uranus jumped as Neptune's hand lightly touched her shoulder. "Can you tell what's going on?" Neptune asked so quietly that it was barely audible over the noise of Mercury's torture. "Is she all right?"

Uranus shook her head. "It's not trying to kill her yet, from the sound of it, but by now she's probably wishing it would. I think it's playing with her, trying to keep her alive and conscious while it tortures her. And so far, it's working."

Neptune gasped. "What are we going to do?"

"The only thing we can do. Nothing."

"We can't just leave her down there!" Neptune pointed to the writhing shadow in the mist below. "How can you watch this and not do anything?" she demanded.

"I don't like it any more than you do," replied Uranus, "but we can't let her see us. Until she loses consciousness, there's nothing we can do but watch and wait."

"By that time, it may be too late!" Neptune protested.

Uranus turned to face her partner. "You heard what Pluto said! We can't overstep our bounds here, or we'll destroy a lot more than just Sailor Mercury!"

"Sailor Pluto believes in us," Neptune reminded her. "We have to believe in ourselves!"

"Oh, I believe in us all right," Uranus assured her. "I just don't believe in this crazy situation." She turned back to the alley. "I hate this." She pounded her fist on the edge of the roof angrily. "Why are we even here? We can't do anything!"

"There must be something we can do," said Neptune. "Sailor Mercury – no, the entire world is depending on us!"

"And what do you want me to do about it?" snapped Uranus. "There's nothing we can do! Nothing! We may as well be sitting up here with our hands tied behind our backs!"

"Is that so?" asked Neptune. "Well, I'm not going to sit up here any longer. If we can't come up with a plan, I'm going to jump down there and help her myself, and let whatever happens happen."

"Don't make me have to stop you," spat Uranus, whirling around again to glare at Neptune. The two Scouts locked eyes as Sailor Mercury's screams intensified with a new kind of pain, and each one saw the true concern of the other. Neither enjoyed the idea of standing still while the torture below continued, but neither was willing to be the first to violate Sailor Pluto's warning.

Finally, Neptune broke the silence. "I feel like such a monster all over again."

"We have to wait until that thing's business is finished before we can help her," Uranus agreed. "But unlike the last time, we're not planning to leave her dead if she happens to have the right type of Heart Crystal. We're going to save her, no matter what!"

"Is there no way we can convince it to leave?" asked Neptune. "A distraction, perhaps?"

"What do you suggest we do? Attack it?" Uranus countered. "You saw how effective that was the last time it attacked us."

"We don't necessarily have to attack it directly," replied Neptune. "We could attack something nearby, just enough to draw its attention."

"Right," snorted Uranus. "And we'd probably end up hitting Sailor Mercury at the same time."

Neptune's head fell in shame. "You're right."

"Yeah..." said Uranus, with a note of hope in her voice. "That just might work!"

"What might work?" asked Neptune, excitement building at the prospect of having a plan at last.

Uranus returned her gaze to the alley below. "We can't do anything while Mercury's still conscious, right?" Neptune nodded. "So... I'll knock her out myself."

Neptune took a deep breath. "Are you sure that's a good idea, Uranus?"

"It's the only idea I've got!" returned Uranus. "I'll hit her with a World Shaking while she's not paying attention, and that should be enough to knock her unconscious. Then you jump down there and get her to safety while I distract that thing long enough to buy you some time."

"But you're already weak from fighting it before," Neptune pointed out. "You should be the one to take Mercury away while I distract it."

"That won't work," said Uranus. "I might be too tired to move quickly enough while carrying her."

After a moment's hesitation, Neptune agreed. "All right. But be very careful. Don't get yourself killed."

"I always fight to win," Uranus assured her.

Neptune grabbed the sides of Uranus' head. "No, I mean it. If you die...." She trailed off and finished her sentence by kissing Uranus on the lips in a quick motion.

Uranus smiled as Neptune broke the kiss. "Hey, relax. I'll be fine, I promise. But we have to hurry." She turned back to the edge of the roof, leaned over, and struck the side of the building with her fist. "URANUS WORLD SHAKING!"

A glowing boulder streaked down toward the barely visible figure of Sailor Mercury in the mist below, but even before it had reached its target, Neptune leapt off the edge of the roof and aimed her hands down at the unmoving shadow of the enemy. "NEPTUNE DEEP SUBMERGE!" she shouted with impeccable timing. Just as the boulder struck Sailor Mercury and knocked her to the ground, the creature below flew up out of the mist and right into Neptune's water attack. The water failed to penetrate the invisible barrier that surrounded the creature, but the resulting splash obscured its vision until Neptune was safely beneath the cover of the fog.

Uranus sent another boulder to smash into the enemy's shield before it could get its bearings, hoping to distract it long enough for Neptune to get away. She couldn't see into the fog well enough to determine whether Neptune had escaped yet or not, but the armored enemy below turned its head toward Uranus, its eyes glowing so fiercely that its entire helmet seemed to be engulfed in blue flame. In the next instant, the creature was at eye level with her, floating just beyond the edge of the roof. She backed away in shock at its sudden appearance, tripping over her own feet.

"You..." spat the creature. "How is it that you still live? My power should have been enough to destroy you, and your consciousness was gone after I attacked you!"

Uranus fought back her fear and stared her enemy right in the visor. "You can never count a Sailor Scout out of the battle!" she said in a voice that wavered with terror despite her resolve. She wanted to stand up, but was afraid that her shivering legs wouldn't be able to support her.

The creature's body straightened as it landed on the rooftop. "You pretend at bravery, but in truth, you are terrified of me. That I can understand. I am indeed capable of destroying you with minimal effort." The glow in its eyes dimmed. "And yet you survived my last attack... how?"

"I'll never tell you!" Uranus shouted. She couldn't let it find out about Sailor Pluto's interference... who knew what it could do with that information?

"Ah, it was this 'Sailor Pluto' who saved you," the enemy said casually, as if it was old news.

Uranus gasped. "How did you know?"

"Simple," it replied. "I know EVERYTHING that you know. Your mind holds no secrets from me." It flexed its fingers as if using them to count the secrets it had extracted from her. "I know that you and Sailor Neptune are trying to protect the other Sailor Scouts from me, but that you cannot be discovered without risking a paradox. I know that you are limited to the use of your most basic powers, which are incapable of defeating your enemies. I know that you are hoping to distract me to allow Sailor Neptune a chance to find safety." It seemed to frown in displeasure at that last revelation. "A pity I did not suspect it sooner. By now, they are likely a good distance away, and I can no longer probe Sailor Mercury's mind to find out where she is."

Uranus forced herself to her feet, reminding herself of the importance of her part of the plan. She had to fight to protect Neptune! "I'll never let you get your hands on them!" she snarled defiantly.

"You can do nothing to stop me," it replied coolly, raising its hands in front of its body. "Still, I cannot allow you to interfere further." A familiar ball of blue light appeared between them, and Uranus found herself staring into the light in horror. That attack had nearly killed her the last time, and this time, Sailor Pluto wouldn't be able to help her. "How unfortunate that you decided to interfere," said the enemy as it took aim. "Had you minded your own business, you would have survived."

"I'm not dead!" Uranus shouted back. "You can't kill me so easily!" As the creature let its attack fly, she released an attack of her own. "URANUS WORLD SHAKING!" The boulder collided with the energy ball midway between the two fighters, scattering the energy in a blinding flash. Uranus turned her head, loath to look away from her enemy but unable to see anything in the afterimage of the explosion anyway. Suddenly, a thought occurred to her: Her opponent had also undoubtedly been blinded by the flash, giving her a chance to retreat to a safe distance. Without hesitation, she charged for the edge of the roof and leapt toward the adjacent building. In mid-leap, however, she suddenly halted in place, floating motionlessly between the rooftops.

The armored enemy stepped out of the fading blue light with its paw raised, clenched in a fist. "You are wise to try to run, given that you cannot win this battle. But there is no escape from me."

"Is that so?" taunted Uranus, trying to keep her cool despite her helplessness. "Then what about Neptune and Mercury?"

"They will not live long," the creature assured her as it opened its fist. Uranus barely had time to feel the sick sensation in her stomach as the force holding her in midair vanished before she plunged five stories to an abrupt landing on the pavement below. She was only dimly aware of her attacker flying over her, and then the world went black.

When she woke up again, her entire body ached, and she was lying on her back in some kind of shallow puddle. She tried to sit up, but couldn't move an inch. The viscous liquid seemed to hold her to the ground. 'What is this stuff?' she asked herself. 'Glue?' She opened her eyes, but all that she could see was a single smear of dark red that filled her entire field of vision. 'Oh, it's blood.' She let out a deep sigh and tried to inhale again, but her lungs did not seem inclined to comply. 'Blood has such a pretty color,' she decided. 'I'm going to find some flowers that color and give them to Neptune. That's how I'll apologize for not keeping my promise.'

A dark shadow fell over her, and she pried her eyes open again to look at the figure blocking what little sunlight reached the floor of the alley in the early afternoon. She could only make out what appeared from her perspective to be a very tall human form, its left hand locked in a tight grip around a long thin shaft, the upper end of which was hidden in the shadows. Even through the film of blood over her eyes, Uranus could see a dark aura surrounding the figure... an aura of death. Her blood froze at the sight of the figure, and she tried to move, to escape, but her muscles may as well have belonged to a completely different body for all the good it did. She was as good as tied up and gagged as the figure bent down to lay a hand on her face and push her eyes closed. She tried to open them again, but they were as unresponsive as the rest of her body. Besides, it hurt to struggle. It was so nice to just lie there, accepting whatever fate came to her....

'No! I have to fight!' she told herself. But even as the words crossed her mind, the blackness beneath her eyelids swallowed her thoughts as well, and she faded into nothingness.

*************************************************

Someone – or something – was calling to her from far away. She couldn't make out the words, if there were any, but judging by its tone, it seemed worried about her. There was a sense of urgency as well, as if to indicate that if she didn't act on this message, something terrible would happen. To her? To the caller? To the world? There was no way to know. What little sense she had of the caller was fading quickly, segueing smoothly into a set of physical sensations.

Heat. She was burning – her face and chest were pressed against a rough, hot surface, and her back felt like it was on fire. Her legs, on the other hand, felt like they were buried in snow. Confused by the odd discrepancy, she tried to open her eyes, only to be assaulted by intense brightness that forced them closed again. 'What's going on?' she asked herself. 'It's so hard to think... feels like my brain is melting.'

Sailor Mars. That was her name. The revelation came to her like the last page of a detective novel, making pieces fall into place. She had been walking through a desert, and she must have collapsed, which explained the gritty texture and extreme temperature of the surface she was lying on... sand that had absorbed enough of the sun's rays to become a veritable stove. But why did her legs feel so cold? Strangely enough, now that she thought about it, they also seemed to be pointed downwards, as if they were stuck in the ground....

Adrenaline overcame her weariness as she pushed herself up and turned her head to look at her legs. As she feared, she was buried up to her hips in the funnel-like quicksand that she had fallen afoul of earlier. The pit was much wider than she remembered it, so much so that its edge was nearly a straight line that ran under her waist. Worse, she could feel the sand under her belly beginning to sink downward, opening the mouth of the deadly pit even wider. That would explain why her legs were in the quicksand – after she had collapsed, it had expanded to meet her, and would apparently continue to grow in the same way until it swallowed the entire desert. Long before that, however, it would consume what little solid ground she could reach, and her with it.

'At least I woke up in time,' she thought gratefully, grasping at the sand in front of her to pull herself out. Unfortunately, the sand's grip on her legs was much stronger than it had been the last time, preventing her from gaining even an inch against its sucking power. Fatigue was taking its toll as well; it wasn't long before she was forced to rest, spreading her weight as best she could over the solid ground to counter the force of her weight trying to drag her down into the pit. The upper half of her body felt strangely light, and she had to concentrate to be sure that it wasn't merely a trick of the heat taking its toll on her mind. 'It's my center of mass,' she realized, recalling a lesson from her biology class. 'The center of mass of the female body is in the hips. Last time, my hips were over solid ground, so I was able to pull myself out. This time, they're sitting on the surface of the quicksand, which is why my upper body weight is barely supporting me. I have to get out of this stuff fast, or it'll drag me under!'

The heat of the sand on her chest was much less agonizing now, she realized. Then she noticed the reason: her hips were sliding down the side of the pit as it softened, levering her upper body up off the desert floor. "No!" she cried, digging her fingers into the ground to slow her descent. She had to keep her weight over solid ground as much as she could... but she quickly realized that it wasn't working. She was already overbalanced, and felt herself sinking deeper despite her effort to hold herself up. Abandoning the idea, she brought her arms closer to the edge of the pit and pressed her palms to the ground, using her arms to hold herself up directly. Her muscles immediately began to ache, but she prayed for strength and held on, grateful for the added strength of Planet Power within her. Without that, she would have undoubtedly succumbed long before, either to the heat or to the quicksand, or both.

Her new grip wasn't much better. She didn't even feel her arms relaxing, but her hips slowly descended into the quicksand as the sand began to cling to the folds of her skirt, weighing her down even more. The soothing touch of the cool sand on her burning skin was a relief at first, but once she had allowed herself a moment to enjoy the feeling, she reminded herself that every inch of her body that was cool was an inch closer to death. 'Maybe death isn't going to be so bad,' she thought, then immediately regretted it. Whether it was physical or mental, weakness meant death – and no matter how hot she was, death was NOT an option!

As she felt the sand cover her waist, Mars realized that her attempt to hold herself up was failing miserably. She turned her arms and shifted her hands across the surface, hoping to find a position that was comfortable, but each movement merely let her sink a bit deeper without easing the pain at all. Growing desperate as the quicksand rose to her navel, Mars leaned forward as far as she could and propped herself up on her elbows. Her shoulders still felt a bit tired, but it was a bearable position, and she didn't seem to be sinking any deeper for the moment. She took a few deep breaths, wondering how long the respite would last... and whether she would ever be able to extricate herself from the pit, or was merely delaying her inevitable demise.

Before she could muster the strength to try to escape again, a faint hint of movement on the horizon presented an answer to both questions. Mars raised her head to peer through the haze of heat rising from the desert floor, hoping against hope that what she had seen was not merely a mirage, but perhaps a fellow traveler who might be able to come to her aid. "Help me!" she did her best to shout, but her plea came out as a weak croak from her dry throat. If there was a person out there, there was no chance that they could hear her. Fortunately, it didn't seem to matter. Before long, she saw the movement again, and it appeared to be a bit closer this time. There was definitely a shape in the distance, and as she watched, it slowly grew sharper and sharper as it approached her. Her heart skipped a beat. She was going to be rescued after all! She could barely make out the dark outline of a human figure stepping out of the wavering air... no, wait. It couldn't be....

It was. As it shambled into view, there was no mistaking the black shadow that had stalked her before. Whether it had come back to life, or it had never actually died, or this was an entirely different shadow, Mars had no idea; but it was coming for her once again, and this time, she couldn't use her fire attack against it without letting go of solid ground entirely and sinking to her doom. It was moving quite quickly, too, as if determined to catch her before she could become submerged. Of course, she didn't plan to foil it by letting go... but what other choice was there? She pushed with her elbows, hoping that by some miracle she could crawl out of the quicksand, but it held her as fast as ever, and she only succeeded in loosening the sand under her arms. The edge of the pit gave way, and she was sinking again, the bottom of her breasts now barely above the moving surface. She stretched her arms out to grab the nearest solid ground, digging her fingers into the sand for purchase, but her grip was futile – the edge was too far away now to support her.

Breathing was becoming increasingly difficult as the sand pressed against her chest from all sides. However, there was also a bit of additional comfort in her position. Her entire back, which had been exposed to the sun for who knew how long, was finally shielded from the heat under a thick layer of cool sand. Only her head and arms remained above the surface, and consequently felt as if they were on fire. She fought away a wave of dizziness, only to feel tears starting to form in her eyes. She was so hot... the sun burned... under the sand was cool....

A shadow fell on her, blissfully taking the harsh edge off the sun's heat. Mars was halfway through a sigh of relief when she realized what was producing the shadow and tilted her head up to see the black figure standing at the edge of the pit, its arm reaching for her face. She screamed, trying to push herself away from the phantom but only digging herself deeper into the sand, until the dust rising around her face got into her mouth and choked her. The shadow remained resolutely still while she struggled, keeping its hand in front of her face, the fingers toward her and the palm sideways, almost as if offering to shake her hand. Mars considered this as she spat out a mouthful of dust. If the shadow was so determined to get to her, why hadn't it just reached down and touched her? Instead, it seemed to be waiting for her to touch it... and what then? The truth was that she honestly didn't know. It could certainly be worse than sinking in quicksand, but if it was really so evil, why did it have to wait for her to accept whatever fate it had in store for her? If it was so bad, why didn't it take her itself? Could it be... that it was actually trying to help her?

Mars felt the shifting sand climbing the sides of her face, about to cover her head, and she knew that her time had run out. If she didn't take her chances with the shadow, she was dead. She had only a few seconds to decide....

She stretched her arm up and grabbed the figure's hand, surprised at how soft and smooth it felt. The hand's grip was strong, however, and it immediately set to work hauling her out of the pit. She reached for the pit's edge with her free hand, lending her own strength to the effort, but it was slow going even so. Her ascent was agonizing as well, as most of her body had been cooled by the sand for so long that every inch that emerged into the sun felt doubly burned. Still, the thought that she had actually found an ally in this wasteland rather than an enemy pushed the heat right out of her mind. By the time she had crawled up onto solid ground, her weariness was gone, left in the pit along with her despair and her left shoe.

Shivering in the lingering terror of her ordeal, Mars propped herself up on her knees and left hand and coughed the last of the sand from her throat. The shadowed figure stood above her patiently, holding her right hand while she caught her breath. Once her lungs had stopped aching and her breathing had returned to normal, Mars got to her feet and self-consciously brushed the remaining sand from her skirt. Once the fabric was as clean as she could make it, she adjusted her bow slightly. 'What am I doing?' she asked herself. 'I don't really care what my clothes look like, do I?' No, she realized. She was doing anything she could to take her attention away from the shadow-person. Her entire face burned with the embarrassed blush of having been so terrified of what had turned out to be a benevolent thing.

She cleared her throat and turned to the figure at last. "Um, thank you," she began. "You saved my life." The shadow didn't deign to acknowledge her words, but continued to stare at the distant horizon as if searching for something. "I'm sorry I set you on fire before," Mars continued diplomatically. "I didn't know whether you were a friend or an enemy at first." The shadow remained resolutely silent, leaving Mars with the feeling that it still hadn't accepted her apology. "You know... because you don't say anything," she explained, desperate for the shadow to respond somehow, even if not with words.

Seeing that the shadow still wouldn't talk, Mars turned to the direction it was staring, hoping that its attention was fixed elsewhere for a reason. "What's out there?" she asked. "Something dangerous?" But even as she spoke the last words of her question, she saw what was happening. The sun was quickly sinking beneath the horizon, turning the sky blood red for a few seconds before vanishing completely. Only the full moon remained to brighten the dark night until the stars began to appear one by one in the dome of the sky.

Mars stared into the night sky in wonder, enjoying the sudden, wonderful chill. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, the wind blew across the desert sands again, but this time it was delightfully cool, and she turned to face it, letting the breeze play across her cheeks and sweep her hair up behind her. Even the way it blew her skirt up, which she usually found annoying, didn't faze her after the hours she'd spent wishing for such a refreshing sensation. It wasn't until the last of the lingering heat had been drawn from her skin and her body started to shiver in the cold that she indulged the suspicion that was tugging at the back of her mind. "The sun was directly above us just a few minutes ago," she said aloud. "So how can it be sunset already?"

Mars turned expectantly toward the shadow, which was nearly invisible in the darkness. "You know what's going on here, don't you?" When the shadow failed once again to acknowledge her question, she gave its arm a sharp jerk, watching with some satisfaction as it stumbled. "I want some answers, and I don't care if you have to say them in sign language, or charades, or write in the sand with your finger!" The shadow held its hand in front of its face as if seeing it for the first time. Perhaps it was. "Who or what are you?" Mars asked it. "And where is this place?"

The shadow seemed to turn its head to look at her, then bent down and traced in the sand with the index finger of the hand that wasn't still holding Mars' tightly. Mars squatted to look at the character that it was drawing, leaning to get the most out of what little light remained in the landscape. It was a kanji that she was quite familiar with, having painted it on countless sleep charms that had been sold to interested Cherry Hill Shrine patrons: DREAM.

"You mean this is a dream?" she asked quietly. Yet even as she asked the question, pieces began to fall into place. This world – the desert with its blazing heat – had been some sort of metaphor symbolizing her struggle to survive in the real world. The quicksand was the embodiment of death, creeping up to swallow her, and this vague shadow was what little remained of her life. And now she was whole once again, joined with the thread of life. She had won the battle... but.... "Why am I still here?" she asked. "How do I get back? How do I wake up from this dream?"

The figure stood up swiftly and raised its hand to her cheek, applying a light pressure to tilt her head until she was staring into its featureless face. While she was too stunned to do anything, it moved its own head forward to meet hers, and she felt a soft pair of lips place a kiss right on her mouth. Mars quickly backed away, reaching up to wipe her mouth disgustedly on the back of her arm, but midway through the motion, her muscles went limp and she collapsed to the sand, paralyzed. The world went dark, and everything began to fade... sights, sounds, smells....

"Why?" she whispered as she lay helplessly on the cold desert floor, the strong hand gripping hers the only sensation that remained to her. Then, the hand let go, and was gone. She reached out for it with her last ounce of strength, but it was no longer there. She was in total void – a disembodied mind. "Did I make the wrong choice?" she asked, and the words floated in her awareness, having nowhere outside of her to go.

"Am I... gone?"

The darkness was total, and went on for eternity. But at the end of it all, there was a voice. A young, innocent voice that reminded her of herself as a child. "Sailor Mars!" it said desperately. "Are you all right?"

She could feel her body again. The hard pavement under her shoulder blades and buttocks was hot, but not nearly so much so as the hot... something she'd just been... what was she doing again?

"Sailor Mars?"

Oh, right. She was trying to get to the place in her vision, the place where her friends would die if she wasn't there to stop the creature she'd seen... the creature! She sat bolt upright, only now beginning to feel and smell the sweat pouring down her face. The vision was back, and more urgent than ever.

"Yay! You're awake!" cheered the voice, and Mars finally opened her eyes and turned to face its source. A young girl, about six by Mars' estimation, stood beside her with a half-excited, half-concerned look on her face. "Are you all right?" the girl asked again. "Your clothes are all bloody."

Mars' hand crept up to her side, where she expected to feel the pain of her injury... but her side felt just fine, and she could detect no sign of a wound under the patch of dried blood that stained her fuku. She was still a bit dizzy, but it seemed to be getting better rather than worse as she moved. "Yeah, I'm fine," she replied.

"I'm so glad you're all right!" said the girl. "I'm a big fan! You're my favorite Sailor Scout!"

"Thanks, kid," Mars said curtly as she stood up slowly, easing herself through the motions while paying attention for the first sign of the expected pain that never came.

"Are you fighting a big, evil monster?" the young girl asked excitedly.

"I think so," Mars replied. "You'd better get indoors. Things could get really nasty soon."

The girl seemed about to argue, but instead bravely nodded, deciding to take the sage advice of her greatest hero. She ran toward a nearby house, screaming, "Mommy! Mommy! Guess who I just talked to!"

Mars felt obligated to sigh nostalgically at the reminder of the innocence of youth before focusing on the vision and setting off again, this time at full health. Now, she knew that she would reach her friends in time, and nothing could stop her!

*************************************************

Jupiter could do nothing but stare up at Ryoko as the space pirate swooped down at supersonic speed to slice her head in half. However, the anticipated sword-swing never came. Just before Ryoko came within melee range of Jupiter, something long, thin, and black intercepted her, smacking her in the side just below the ribcage and diverting her flight path into the street next to Jupiter. She smashed a crater in the street's surface as she landed, kicking up a huge cloud of black dust. Jupiter coughed as her eyes traced the black rod to its source.

Tuxedo Mask stood at the mouth of the alley adjacent to the warehouse, holding his cane in striking position with one hand and his ribs with the other. The cane retracted as he ran to Jupiter's side. "Sailor Jupiter, are you all right?" he asked.

"I'm fine, thanks to you," she replied. "What about you? Are you okay?"

Tuxedo Mask nodded. "I'll live."

"That's what you think," said Ryoko's voice from the dust cloud. The orange glow of her sword shone from the depths of the cloud even before she stepped into view, the oddly refracting light casting strangely upon her face to bring out her rage all the more clearly. "I wasn't going to kill you before, but now you've pissed me off!"

Tuxedo Mask had begun to raise his cane to block even before Ryoko swung her sword, but still barely parried in time. Ryoko didn't even pause before following up with another swing, then another, forcing Tuxedo Mask to back away as he blocked each one. Ryoko advanced boldly as Tuxedo Mask retreated, steering him toward the nearest wall.

As Ryoko stepped past Jupiter, Jupiter leapt forward to grab Ryoko from behind in a bear hug. "JUPITER THUNDER CRASH!" she shouted, sending a surge of electricity through Ryoko's body. The jolt sent Ryoko's body into spasms, allowing Tuxedo Mask to smack her in the stomach with his cane. Ryoko staggered backwards from the blow, screaming in pain, but managed through sheer strength of will to gain enough control of her arms to reach down and pry Jupiter's arms away from her body. She bent forward and hurled Jupiter over her shoulders, still holding Jupiter's hands so that she could drive her knee into the back of the Sailor Scout's head as she flipped forward. Jupiter hit the ground hard and did not rise.

Having dealt with the immediate threat of Jupiter's electricity, Ryoko returned her attention to her remaining opponent, but she was a bit too late. As she looked up, she felt the end of Tuxedo Mask's cane plow into her stomach, pushing her backwards as it continued to extend. She tried to roll out of its path, but it was moving too quickly for her to do anything but go along for the ride. She felt her back hit a solid object, and let herself sink into it before the cane could crush her insides.

Tuxedo Mask quickly retracted his cane as he saw Ryoko vanish into the brick wall, then knelt next to Jupiter and shook her. "Jupiter, wake up!" he urged her.

Jupiter sluggishly opened her eyes. "Huh? What...? Tuxedo...." Then she sobered in an instant and quickly turned her head, searching the area for signs of her opponent. "Where's Ryoko?"

"I think she ran away," replied Tuxedo Mask. "She disappeared into a wall."

Jupiter leapt to her feet. "She could be in the ground! We have to get somewhere –"

Tuxedo Mask's cry of alarm cut her off as Ryoko's hands grabbed his ankles and began to pull him into the ground. Jupiter reached for his arms with a cry of "Tuxedo!" and managed to get her fingers around his wrists, but it felt like she was trying to hold a cloud. Her hands slipped right through his arms as if he were a ghost.

"Jupiter, help!" he cried as he continued to descend. "Do something!"

Panicking, Jupiter grabbed at the first idea to cross her mind. "Brace yourself, Tuxedo Mask!" she warned, stretching her hands into his chest. "JUPITER THUNDER CRASH!"

As the electricity arced from her hands, she willed it to pass through Tuxedo Mask's body as quickly as possible and into Ryoko, but Tuxedo Mask still screamed in pain as her attack coursed through him. Jupiter nearly broke off her attack at the sound, but reminded herself of how narrowly she had escaped being trapped underground and summoned all of her determination to protect Tuxedo Mask from that fate.

Seconds later, as Tuxedo Mask's screams crescendoed to a peak, he popped out of the ground, knocking Jupiter to the street as he landed on top of her. Ryoko flew straight up into the sky, trailing thick black smoke like a screaming snake. When she stopped nearly a hundred feet above the street and the smoke swirled upward to surround her, a bright orange glow provided a beacon to show her position within the cloud. "You bitch!" Ryoko screamed, her voice on the verge of cracking. "Why won't you just die?"

The fireball flew straight at Jupiter, and she pushed at Tuxedo Mask to move his dead weight off her body so that she could dodge the attack. At first, he was too heavy to move, but as the fireball drew close enough for Jupiter to feel its heat, Tuxedo Mask rolled over on his own. He swung his cane upward at the incoming projectile, deflecting it like a baseball into the street several yards away.

"So you're still alive too," Ryoko noted aloud as the smoke around her began to dissipate, giving the observers below a clear view of her blackened face and hair. "Then try these on for size!" Ryoko charged up fireballs in both hands and launched them in rapid succession, sending a volley of dozens of fireballs toward Tuxedo Mask. The caped fighter held his cane above himself and spun it in his fingers like a propeller, creating a virtual shield which reflected the projectiles right back at Ryoko, who was forced to dodge her own shots as they flew back up, spreading themselves out due to the erratic reflection.

As Ryoko danced from side to side in the air, fitting easily through the gaps between the incoming fireballs, she charged up another shot, watching the fighters below for the best opportunity to release it with what she hoped would be enough power to explode on impact rather than being reflected by Tuxedo Mask's makeshift shield. A fireball blocked her view for a second, and she spun around it, quickly reorienting herself on the figures below – but only Tuxedo Mask was there, his cane at the ready to defend himself even after Jupiter had escaped. Ryoko turned in the air, searching for Jupiter on the ground. It was the prickling of the hairs on the back of her neck that drew her attention to her left side, and she reflexively raised her shield even as she turned to see the bolt of lightning strike the invisible wall harmlessly. She let out a relieved sigh. Jupiter had almost managed to hit her with that sneak attack, but as the sparks disappeared, she could see the Sailor Scout in the street below, panting from her fatigue and helpless now that she was no longer under Tuxedo Mask's protective shield. Ryoko could feel the fire burning in her own eyes as she took aim and prepared to land at least one good hit before Jupiter could realize that her attack had failed.

The familiarly painful tip of Tuxedo Mask's cane stabbed into Ryoko's side before she could fire, catching her right below the ribs and impacting her already injured gut. The pain was so sharp and intense that Ryoko forgot about Jupiter completely until the next electric bolt shot through her body seconds later. Ryoko's muscles went into seizure as yet another gigawatt dose of electricity tore through her, and for a moment, she blacked out. She quickly came to, only to feel herself falling straight down. She did her best to recover, but only barely managed to right herself before she hit the ground; so instead of splitting her skull, the impact merely winded her and left her sprawled in the street, still twitching but otherwise unable to move.

Jupiter fell to her knees to catch her breath, keeping her gaze fixed on Ryoko's smoking form in case her opponent still had any fight left in her. Ryoko continued to shudder as occasional sparks arced across her body, but there was no other hint of movement or sign of life at all. Cautiously, Jupiter crawled forward to examine the body, but a shout from Tuxedo Mask stopped her. "Stay back, Sailor Jupiter!" he shouted, pointing his cane at Ryoko and extending it into her side again, evoking a groan of pain as the impact flipped her over.

Ryoko finally sat up, keeping her head bowed. Her right arm continued to twitch involuntarily, forcing her to hold herself up with only her left arm. Her eyes, when she opened them, were the only part of her body that was not blackened and burnt, and her wheezing breaths were audible even from a distance. While Tuxedo Mask prepared his cane for another blow, Ryoko turned her head to look first at Jupiter, then at Tuxedo Mask. "All right," she whispered, ending her sentence with a coughing fit. She had to take a deep breath before she could continue speaking. "I give up. I didn't think you two could beat me, but I guess I underestimated you."

"What are you going to do now?" asked Jupiter, holding up a hand to warn Tuxedo Mask not to attack again. He seemed anxious to finish off their opponent, but something told Jupiter that it would be wiser to hold back as long as Ryoko was unable to fight.

Ryoko leaned forward as if to stand up, but either decided against it in mid-motion or was simply unable to get to her feet and remained sitting on the ground. "I don't really have a choice, do I? I have to retreat for now." She forced her charred lips into a smile. "Don't worry. I'll be back sooner or later, and then I'll kill you." The ground under her opened up into a black hole, and Ryoko descended into it.

"She's getting away!" shouted Tuxedo Mask as he ran toward the hole, but it closed before he could get even halfway there.

Jupiter heaved a sigh of relief as the hole closed and vanished. "She's gone," she said in a tone that lacked all of Tuxedo Mask's regret.

Tuxedo Mask kicked angrily at the ground where Ryoko had escaped. The sudden movement pulled at his insides, causing the dull pain he'd been ignoring to flare at once. He fell to his knees, clutching his stomach. Jupiter was at his side in a flash. "Are you all right, Tuxedo Mask?" she asked.

Tuxedo Mask shook his head. "I feel like I've been cooked...."

Jupiter blushed. "Sorry about that. It was the only way I could think of to save you...."

Tuxedo Mask nodded appreciatively. "I know... it's not that I'm ungrateful or anything. It just really hurts."

Jupiter winced. "Are you going to be okay?"

"I don't think it's serious," he replied. "I'll get back to the warehouse on my own. You need to get back to the others. It's already been way too long."

Jupiter hesitated at the thought of leaving Tuxedo Mask on his own, but he was right; the other Scouts were fighting for their lives, and needed all the help they could get. "All right," she agreed. "I'll be back soon. Take care of yourself, okay?"

"You're the one who's going to be in danger," he reminded her. But Jupiter was already on her way to the confrontation with the new enemy, and didn't bother to reply. Tuxedo Mask sighed, shook his head, and then began the painful trek back to his hiding place. "Good luck, Sailor Jupiter," he said to himself. "I have a feeling you're going to need it."

*************************************************

For what seemed like an hour, Ranma sat in the street holding Lina's body, completely ignoring the Sailor Scouts who were watching him. He could feel her heart beating, and see her chest very slightly rising and falling with her breathing; but no matter how hard he shook her, no matter how many times he called her name, she did not wake up. Just like that, when he had finally found someone he could feel safe confiding in, she was gone. Somehow, it hurt in a way that losing Akane hadn't. It had been bad enough seeing Akane in a state of non-death, motionless but alive, from which she would awaken as soon as the crystal was deactivated. But there was no crystal keeping Lina in her comatose state.

Ranma looked down upon the lifeless face of his erstwhile partner, and felt all of the familiar mixed emotions surge through his heart. On an impulse, he let the fingers of his right hand rest on her cheek, using his thumb to gently wipe the dribble of blood from her lips. It smeared slightly across her mouth and chin, but Ranma found himself staring at the stained lips intently, and the feelings within him deepened. He closed his eyes, but could still see every detail of her face. His mind wiped the blood away and breathed color back into her pale cheeks, life into her glassy eyes, and the spark of vitality into her beautiful lips....

A puff of warm air touched Ranma's chin, and he opened his eyes to see what it was. He got quite a shock to see Lina's face inches from his own, her eyes wide open in surprise. He could feel her breath on his lips, and blood rushed to his face as he realized what he had been about to do. His muscles tensed as he prepared to be punched into the lower ionosphere. However, Lina seemed to be in too much shock to do anything. Ranma froze in place, trying to figure out what he should do. His throat had seized up so that speaking was out of the question. As for shifting his position to something a bit more comfortable... if he moved any closer, he really would be kissing her, but he couldn't bring himself to back away.

A few seconds later, Lina solved the dilemma by arching her back and groaning in pain. Ranma had to adjust his grip to avoid dropping her. "Lina! Are you all right?"

Lina coughed, spraying blood all over herself. "I don't think I'm going to last much longer," she whispered. "I can feel my energy... draining away."

"Why?" Ranma asked again. "What's wrong with you?"

"I should have noticed it sooner," replied Lina. "I can't feel the monster realm any more. It must have happened when Mewtwo revived me... it didn't repair the link between myself and my world. So ever since then, every time I used my magic, I was using my own power. And while monsters have so much power that they don't miss the occasional Fireball or Dragon Slave..." – she had to pause for breath – "... humans can't sustain that type of power for very long. I used way too much... and now...." Her eyes rolled back into her head.

"NO!" shouted Ranma, shaking her up and down. "Don't you dare die!"

"That's... not helping..." Lina said, offering no resistance to the buffeting she was receiving at Ranma's hands. She coughed again, but it was weaker this time. "I strained myself... too much."

"Don't talk!" advised Ranma. "Don't try to move! Don't even breathe!" Lina gasped and began to choke. "No, wait! Breathe! Breathe!" He tilted her head back and placed his mouth over hers, forcing air down her throat. When he sat up, she coughed up another throatful of blood and then collapsed. Ranma felt his own lungs weakening as he helplessly watched Lina die in his arms.

Sailor Venus, meanwhile, was cradling a body at the other side of the street, praying that there was still time. "Wake up, Sailor Moon!" she begged. "Please, hurry!"

Sailor Moon slowly, weakly opened her eyes. "Venus... what happened to me?"

"You're awake!" Venus cheered gratefully. "I'm so relieved!" She lifted Sailor Moon into a sitting position. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm pretty tired," Sailor Moon admitted. "I don't remember what happened, but I hurt all over...."

"Can you still use your power?" Venus asked desperately, only now considering the possibility that Sailor Moon might not have the power she would need.

Sailor Moon flexed her arms experimentally. "I think so. Where's the enemy?"

Venus took a deep breath. This was going to be the hard part.... "I don't want you to fight them this time, Sailor Moon."

"What do you mean?"

"Amelia's dying," replied Venus, her voice cracking as she heard the words coming out of her own mouth. "You have to use your power to save her. You have to!"

"Amelia...?" Sailor Moon mulled the name over. "She's the one who's fighting us, isn't she?"

"I know she's our enemy," Venus agreed. "But she's not evil! I can feel how much she and Ranma love each other. There's no way someone evil could have a love like that!"

Sailor Moon smiled. "Don't worry, Venus. I could never let anyone die if I could save them, even if they were an enemy."

Sailor Venus' eyes sparkled. "Thank you, Sailor Moon!"

Sailor Moon stood up, seemingly much stronger than she had been before, and walked across the street to kneel beside Lina. Ranma's hackles rose as she approached. "Don't you dare touch her!" he warned, clenching a fist.

"It's okay," Sailor Moon assured him. "I'm here to help."

"What do you mean?" asked Ranma, not lowering his guard.

"I can save her," replied Sailor Moon.

Ranma glanced down at Lina, then back at Sailor Moon. "Why should I trust you?" he asked.

"You don't have a choice," Sailor Moon reminded him. "If I don't heal her quickly, she'll die."

"That's not what I meant," countered Ranma. "We're trying to kill you. Why would you want to help us?"

"Because WE'RE not trying to kill YOU," replied Sailor Moon. "We fight to protect the innocent... and if you really wanted to kill us, we'd be dead already. You've been holding back all this time, whether you knew it or not."

"Believe what you want," Ranma said defensively. Then, relenting, he laid Lina on the ground and backed away. "If you can help her, then do it."

Sailor Moon nodded and held the Moon Crescent Wand over Lina's chest. "I hope I'm not too late," she whispered, concentrating her power into the Imperium Silver Crystal.

As the healing power from the crystal washed over her, Lina opened her eyes. She gave a start as she saw Sailor Moon sitting over her and tried to leap to her feet, but her body was still too weak to move. "What are you doing to me?" she demanded, her voice a bare murmur.

"Hold still," Sailor Moon told her. "I can feel the hole in your spirit. Let me heal it."

"Don't," begged Lina. "Just let me die."

"What?!" exclaimed Ranma.

"If you heal me," Lina continued with a sinister smile, "I'll kill you."

"That's not the way the Sailor Scouts work," said Sailor Moon, returning Lina's smile warmly. "Sailor Venus tells me you have a good heart, and I can believe her."

"Good, bad, it doesn't matter," Lina pointed out, closing her eyes blissfully as the healing began to take effect. "One Fireball, and you'll die just the same."

"Then I guess I'll have to worry about that when the time comes," said Sailor Moon. "Right now, your life is all that's important."

"You're still going to heal her, even though she threatened you?" asked Ranma.

"I know it doesn't seem to make sense," agreed Sailor Moon, "but I believe there's a way to settle our situation without having to kill each other."

"You don't know how much I want to believe that," said Ranma.

A hand patted Ranma on the shoulder. "You're worried about the girl that Queen Beryl's holding hostage, aren't you?"

Ranma turned to face Venus. "How did you know about Akane?" he asked.

"Amelia told me why you guys are fighting," Venus replied.

"Amelia? You mean Lina?" Ranma looked back at his partner to see that most of the color had returned to her face. "That's right. You guys were friends."

"We still are," Venus corrected him. "I can't blame you or Ame- I mean, Lina, for fighting us. I can feel how strong your love for your friends is. You're doing what you think you have to do to save them."

"And you've got a better idea?" asked Ranma skeptically.

Venus shook her head sadly. "Not really. But I know there has to be a way! Sailor Mercury's the smart one. If you told her everything, she'd be able to think of a way to save your friends...."

"They'd be dead before we could get to Sailor Mercury," said Ranma. "Queen Beryl's watching us, and the second she thinks we're no good to her, she'll kill them."

Venus wiped a film of tears from her eyes. "I know... but there has to be a way...."

Ranma shook his head. "Sorry, but I have to agree with Lina. Once your friend's finished healing Lina, we're going to have to go back to fighting you."

"Please, give us a chance!" urged Venus. "I know we can help you!"

Before Ranma could respond, Lina sat up abruptly and rubbed her head. "Ow... never thought being healed could be so painful." At the same time, Sailor Moon collapsed, unconscious.

"Are you okay, Lina?" asked Ranma.

Lina stood up and flexed her arms experimentally. "Well, I think my body's healed fully. But I'd better check my magic."

"Careful," warned Ranma as Lina extended her arm to the sky. "If it's not working properly, you could hurt yourself again!"

"I'm just going to use something small," Lina assured him. A ball of light appeared over her hand and glowed brightly. "Didn't feel a thing," she announced proudly. She lowered her arm and aimed at Sailor Moon. "Now for one with a bit more power...."

"STOP IT!" Venus leapt up and shoulder-charged Lina before she could power up an attack spell. The two girls landed in a heap with Venus on top.

Lina roughly pushed Venus off and sat up. "What was that about not wanting to fight?" she asked pointedly.

"How could you?" Venus demanded in answer. "Sailor Moon just saved your life, and she gave you back your power! And now you want to kill her?"

"I warned her," replied Lina. "I can't go easy on you just because she saved my life. In fact, we'd all be better off if she'd just let me die. Then my nightmare would be over...."

"No! Don't say that!" shouted Ranma. "We're in this together, remember?"

"If that's the case," said Lina, "then help me kill them."

Ranma hesitated, then raised his hands. "All right. Let's do it."

Venus pointed her finger at the pair threateningly as she stepped between them and Sailor Moon. "I don't want to hurt you," she reminded them, "but I will if I have to!"

"Bring it on," invited Lina. "That little beam of yours doesn't stand up to my Burst Rondo."

"VENUS CRESCENT BEAM SMASH!" shouted Venus, sending a beam past Lina's ear, missing by inches. "I won't miss next time!" she warned.

Lina's mouth curled into an evil grin. "I plan to score a hit with my first shot," she said.

Venus' finger twitched.

Lina's bicep flexed.

A bead of sweat appeared on Venus' forehead.

A similar bead oozed out from behind Lina's headband.

Ranma held his breath, afraid that the slightest stimulus could provoke either one of the other combatants and leave him in the middle of a deadly crossfire.

Sailor Moon stirred, and everything seemed to happen at once. Lina's jewelry began to glow, and her fingers curled around a growing ball of fire. Venus grabbed her right forearm with her left hand, bracing her aching arm in preparation for another shot. Ranma took a defensive position, steeling himself for whatever errant attack would inevitably end up flying his way.

Lina looked up to adjust her aim, and her eyes met those of Sailor Venus. They were eyes full of determination, and Lina knew that if she wanted to attack Sailor Moon, she would have to get through Venus first. Yet there was hesitation in those eyes, too. As much as Venus was determined to protect her fallen comrade, it was quite likely that she would sooner die than risk hurting Lina. Well, that was fine with Lina Inverse....

As Lina tensed her arm, she noticed that Venus' firing arm was shaking in fear. Whether she was afraid of death, or afraid of having to attack a former friend, Lina couldn't tell. But one thing was certain. She couldn't afford to back down again! Not after what had happened after the last battle, when she'd had the Sailor Scouts in her sights and passed up the chance to finish them....

Suddenly, something felt very wrong with the entire situation. It took Lina a few seconds to notice that the Fireball she'd been charging up had dissipated. Sailor Venus had lowered her arm, and was merely staring inquisitively at Lina. Lina glanced over at Ranma without moving her head, to see the same blank look echoed on his face. She felt that look coming over herself as well. How long had she zoned out?

Long enough, apparently. Sailor Moon seemed to have recovered most of her strength. She sat up and looked around. "Venus... Lina and Ranma... what's going on? Are you guys fighting already?"

"Be careful, Sailor Moon!" warned Venus as she returned her arm to the firing position. "I think they're trying to catch us off guard or something!"

Sailor Moon pulled her legs in to stand up. "Don't worry, Sailor Venus. I'll help you...." With those words, she lost her balance and landed on her butt. "Just give me a second...."

Lina could hardly believe it. They were so pathetic, and yet they would give everything to protect each other. It was almost noble. But she couldn't stop to admire them! This was her opportunity! She had to kill them! But there was so much running through her mind... and she felt so dizzy....

Without warning, Lina collapsed as if in a faint, barely giving Ranma time to catch her. "Lina!" he shouted. "What's wrong now?"

"I think maybe you were right," Lina replied in a weak voice. "It's a bit too soon to use my power. We'd better get out of here and rest for a while."

"I don't know if we should let them go," said Ranma. "We're never going to get another chance like this...."

"Mewtwo will take care of them for us," Lina assured him. "I don't think I can fight them anymore."

"Same here," agreed Ranma, and at that moment, Lina didn't know whether his reason was the same as hers or not. But she didn't dwell on the question for long. A bit of mental effort opened a portal to the Negaverse, and they stepped through it together, letting it close behind them.

Venus let her arm fall to her side in surprise. "I don't get it," she said. "I really thought she was going to kill us that time!"

"I'm not planning to complain," said Sailor Moon. "I think we should just be thankful and get back to the others before it's too late."

"I just don't understand," continued Venus, completely ignoring Sailor Moon. "Something's driving her to fight us, but I don't think it's her love. Her feelings are too confused. That must be why she didn't kill us when she had the chance."

"What are you talking about?" asked Sailor Moon.

Venus clasped a fist over her heart. "I don't know," she replied honestly. "Both of them are so sad, but... there's something different about Lina's pain. I've never felt anything like it before."

Sailor Moon put her hand reassuringly on Venus' shoulder. "We'll find a way to help them. But right now, we have a problem of our own to take care of."

Venus nodded. "You're right. Let's go, Sailor Moon!"

*************************************************

"Well, what's going on?" Beryl asked anxiously as she stared into the crystal ball. She hated having to ask the question, but it always seemed as if Chronite could see so much more in it than she could. While she could only watch one part of the battle, he could report on every thread of the action simultaneously. She knew better than to let jealousy get the better of her over such a trivial matter – As if! Jealous of a mere servant? Certainly not! – but it still irked her that she was forced to defer to a subordinate for information. Not only that, but Momiji's body was much shorter than her own had been, forcing Beryl to look up into Chronite's face. She didn't like that at all.

Chronite seemed to take no notice of Beryl's mental state, delivering his report in a level tone. "It appears that all of the Sailor Scouts are out of trouble for the moment, and most of our troops have returned to the Negaverse beaten. They're keeping their distance from us while they nurse their wounds. On the plus side, Mewtwo is searching for the Sailor Scouts now. Once he finds them, it will all be over."

"I'm glad you're optimistic about this," Beryl said facetiously. "What I've seen from you so far gives me no reason to believe this fighter will be any different from the others."

"Just have patience, Queen Beryl," Chronite assured her. "There is no way the Sailor Scouts can defeat Mewtwo."

"For your sake, I hope you're right." The threat didn't sound nearly as intimidating as she'd hoped, as her voice still carried that annoying air of innocence. She was beginning to think that Momiji had never been angry in her life, leaving her vocal cords incapable of forming her favorite tones.

The air opened behind them, and Beryl and Chronite turned in tandem to see who had intruded upon their vigil. However, all they saw was the blackness of the Negaverse as the portal closed. The only hint that anyone was there at all was the heavy, rasping breathing.

"Show yourself!" Beryl demanded of the darkness. The crystal on her chest began to glow, filling her with power.

"I think I see something," said Chronite, squinting into the darkness. Indeed, he could barely make out the dark outline of a human figure in the dim blue light from Beryl's mitama.... "Mistress 9!"

"Sailor Saturn?" asked Beryl, as the dark Sailor Scout's shadow gave way to reveal her normal uniform. "Where have you been? What happened to you?"

Sailor Saturn looked up at Beryl, giving the Queen of the Negaverse a momentary glimpse of her bone-white face, just long enough to utter two words before collapsing to the ground: "Too... strong...."

Beryl stared down at the fallen Scout with disdain bordering on disgust. "I asked you a question, Sailor Saturn! Tell me what happened to you!"

Chronite bent down to listen to Saturn's shallow breathing. "She's barely alive. I don't think she's in any condition to answer you, Queen Beryl."

"I don't care what condition she's in!" shouted Beryl. "I will have my answer! Wake her up!"

"The strain might very well kill her at this point," argued Chronite. "Her body is too weak even to move." He tapped her side with his foot, provoking no response. "I'm surprised she made it back to the Negaverse alive."

"Back from where?" asked Beryl. "What was she doing that weakened her this much?"

"With that sick body of hers, it could be anything," Chronite shot back. "You'll just have to wait until she's recovered her energy."

Beryl stiffened. "You'd best watch your tone, Chronite! I'll make you wish you were in her place if you raise your voice to me again!" Her mitama began to glow again, giving her at least some satisfaction.

Chronite snarled back, stifling his temper. "As you command," he spat in his calmest tone. "Perhaps you would prefer to return to your globe. I'm sure you don't want to miss the moment when Mewtwo tears the Sailor Scouts apart."

Beryl stood still, searching for a way to appear to have the upper hand. "Very well," she said at last. "I have no time for invalids. Take care of her, Chronite. I must return to my throne." She spun around abruptly, causing her skirt to rise high enough to give Chronite a brief glimpse of her panties.

Chronite turned his nose up at Beryl's back as she vanished into the darkness. "So... you went out on your own, eh, 9?" he asked once he was sure Beryl couldn't overhear him. "What were you thinking? That body's not suited for fighting. You could barely throw a punch without keeling over!" He sighed, while Saturn merely lay there and slept. "Still, to weaken you this much, it would have to have been someone very powerful. Only a Guardian of Time could stand a chance against you in a fight. But you wouldn't have been foolish enough to challenge Sailor Pluto face to face, would you?" His face darkened. "I don't like uncertainty, 9. Beryl may be willing to put up with you, but I'm the one who brought you here. You don't want to make me regret that decision."

Having spoken his mind to the comatose girl, Chronite faded into the darkness in search of Beryl. After all, he couldn't let her get too comfortable in his absence....


	14. 13: To Protect the Future

A General Time Paradox

Chapter 13: To Protect the Future

"Ouch! Let me go! I'm not a kid anymore!"

Queen Serenity sighed, as much from thinly veiled happiness as from exasperation at her daughter's precociousness. She got to see so little of Serena any more that even routine acts of discipline came as a welcome excuse to spend time with her. But she had to be firm. She was the girl's mother, after all, not to mention Queen of the Moon Kingdom. She straightened up in her throne as Sailor Venus approached, dragging Princess Serena by the arm.

"I caught her trying to sneak out through the kitchen, Majesty," Venus reported.

"Oh, it's just not fair!" Serena whined. "Why do I have to be locked in the palace all the time? I can't go out and make friends, or explore the Moon, or even talk to anyone!"

Queen Serenity glared sharply at her daughter. "You know these are dangerous times, Serena. We are at war! There is no way for me to protect you outside the palace walls." She placed her warm hands on Serena's cheeks lovingly. "Remember, you are our last hope for the future. It will be up to you to assume the throne after me."

"I'll be really super-careful, honest!" promised Serena. "I just want to have fun, and be a normal girl! Is that too much to ask?"

"Sometimes, we all must make sacrifices," replied Serenity. "The entire Moon Kingdom is depending on you, and you have a great responsibility."

"I don't care about being Queen of the Moon Kingdom!" shouted Serena, punctuating her sentence by stamping her foot on the floor. "You never let me do anything fun! I always have to sit around and be bored because of stupid responsibility!"

"I know you don't want it," agreed Serenity, "but responsibility is not something that you can choose whether or not to accept."

"Well, I DON'T accept it!" Serena whirled around, flaring her skirt, and stormed all of two feet toward the door before bumping into Sailor Venus. "What are you still doing here?" she demanded.

"I'm not going to let you try to run away again," explained Venus. "For your own safety, you must stay within the palace walls."

"But that's so BORING!" whined Serena.

"Would you rather be bored or dead?" snapped Venus.

"That will be all, Sailor Venus," Serenity said abruptly. "I understand your concern, but I would appreciate it if you did not speak to my daughter in that tone of voice again."

Venus stiffened at that, but quickly brought herself to attention and bowed deeply. "My apologies, Your Majesty. I forgot my place."

"And as for you, Serena..." Serenity continued as Venus made her hasty egress. Serena turned back to her mother, belatedly pulling her tongue back into her mouth. Serenity sighed. "I understand that you're a teenage girl with particular needs, but the times simply are not suitable for that type of activity." Serenity stood up and stepped forward, raising a hand to Serena's cheek. "I care only for you, Daughter, and keep you here only for your protection. I would die if anything happened to you."

"I know that, Mother," grumbled Serena, doing her best to fight the power of the maternal guilt trip. "But I can take care of myself, honest!"

"Is that so?" asked Serenity, the light in her eyes taking on an entirely different type of glow. Without warning, she backhanded Serena in the face, knocking the Moon Princess to the floor.

"Ow!" cried Serena, rubbing her cheek as she sat up. "What did you do that for?"

"Had I but had a knife, I could have stabbed you in the heart just as easily," replied Serenity.

"But why would you do that, Mother?" asked Serena.

"I would not. But the power of darkness is everywhere, enslaving the hearts of innocent people. Anyone out there could be a vicious killer, and you are one of their most important targets. The man who sold you apples yesterday could slit your throat today, and you'd never know the difference until you were dead!" She had knelt to lower herself to Serena's eye level as she spoke, and by now her face was less than an inch from Serena's. "I have been outside since Beryl began this war, and the streets are a madhouse. The Sailor Scouts have their hands more than full trying to keep the common people safe, and they have no time to play chaperone to you."

Serena swallowed hard. Her mouth was too dry to speak, even if she could think of something to say.

Serenity smiled warmly. "Serena, I don't tell you this to frighten you. I do it because I love you so much. I know how much you hate being imprisoned in the palace, but if you went outside, you would learn too late why we tried to keep you here." She threw her arms around Serena in a tight hug. "Please, promise me you won't leave these walls where I can protect you with all my love."

Serena returned the embrace. "I promise, Mother." When she leaned back, the tears running down her face had coalesced into a full stream. "I'm really sorry I tried to sneak out."

"Now, go to your room, Serena," said Serenity. "I'll ask one of the retainers to bring you some hot cocoa later."

Serena nodded and stood up. Gathering her skirt, she turned around and quickly walked out of the room. Serenity smiled after her daughter, but it was a melancholy gesture. "She's going straight for the outside," she said aloud. "And there's nothing I can do to stop her."

"She'll be safe for the moment," said a heavy voice from behind her. Serenity turned to face Sailor Pluto, who was struggling to hold up a body so covered in blood that Serenity almost couldn't make out the slight feminine curves. "Right now, I desperately need your help."

Serenity gasped at the sight. "My god! What happened? Who is that?"

"I don't really have time to explain," said Pluto. "Can you heal her?"

Serenity laid a hand on the woman's head, feeling the severe dent from a hard impact. "I'll try," she replied. "But it's difficult to use the Silver Crystal to heal someone unless I feel a special connection to that person."

"Please try," pleaded Pluto, laying the girl on the floor. "The fate of our universe depends on it."

"Can you at least tell me her name?" asked Serenity as she knelt beside the prone girl.

Pluto paused to consider her answer carefully. "Her name is Amarah," she said at last. "She's a strong woman with many friends, who excels at... her favorite sport, and she is a champion to those weaker than herself. She also holds on to a love that is understood by few and accepted by fewer."

"You hesitated," Serenity noted. "There is something you are not telling me. Something that you cannot tell me."

"There is much I cannot tell you now," Pluto admitted. Namely, the concept of 'racing', which would be quite foreign in this time period. "But this girl was struck down while defending the innocent from unbelievable evil. She gave her life for her ideals, and I want to give it back!"

"One who fights for the innocent, just as the Sailor Scouts do," said Serenity. "There are precious few like her, then. But why would the fate of the Universe depend on her?"

"I have no time to explain," Pluto returned curtly. "I have other business to attend to, and my time is short." Serenity chuckled at that. "What is so funny?"

"I realize that the gravity of your situation must be enormous," said Serenity, "but you must admit that it is rather ironic for the Guardian of Time itself to find herself short of it."

"The irony does not escape me," replied Pluto, "but it is difficult to laugh when our Universe faces such grave danger."

Serenity looked up, meeting Pluto's eyes for the first time. She seemed much more mature than when Serenity had last seen her, if it was possible for an ageless being to mature, and her dark gaze told Serenity volumes of how desperate her situation was. "This is a matter far beyond my ability to comprehend, isn't it?" she asked timidly.

"Very much so," replied Pluto. "But I can promise that, except for this favor that I wish I did not have to ask, the situation I am facing will never affect you."

"How can you be so sure?" asked Serenity.

"Because if it does," replied Pluto snappishly, "then there will no longer be a you for it to affect."

Serenity's face went ashen at Pluto's tone even before the words had sunk in. "No longer...?"

Pluto paled to a shade that made Serenity's face look flushed by comparison. "I have to leave," she announced. "I cannot afford to risk revealing the truth to you and destroying everything."

"Truth? What...?" Before Serenity could form a question, Pluto vanished, leaving Serenity alone but for her own half-formed thoughts and the dying girl in front of her. Her lips tightened at the thought that her own advisor was keeping such important secrets from her, and leaving her with this task as if she were a mere servant, and not the Queen of the Moon Kingdom! And yet... the urgency of her tone had struck at Serenity's core, and Pluto was not the type of woman who would take any action without a very good reason. If she felt that knowledge would be dangerous, then Serenity would have to live in ignorance.

Not to mention the fact that, all questions of trust aside, there was a life that needed saving whether she understood the cosmic significance of her actions or not. Serenity turned her attention to the body that was slowly spreading the last of its blood across her floor. She could still faintly feel the girl's life force, but she had already stopped breathing. Serenity quickly summoned the Crescent Moon Wand to her hand and held it over the still body, concentrating on what little she knew of the girl. Amarah's life lay in Serenity's ability to love a complete stranger.

It was going to be the most difficult battle of Serenity's life.

*************************************************

Sailor Mercury paused in her work as the door to her laboratory opened. She'd distinctly asked not to be disturbed in her work, but apparently someone had decided that their business was more urgent than the development of new defense technology for the Mars district. Ah, well The sooner the intruder was dealt with, the sooner she could get back to work. She turned away from her workbench to give her visitor a cold greeting, but when she saw who was standing there, she immediately warmed up. "Sailor Pluto, what a surprise!"

"Likewise," replied Sailor Pluto. "I had not planned any further business in the mortal world, but circumstances have forced me to ask a difficult favor of you."

Mercury's smile vanished as quickly as it had appeared. "A difficult favor? What is it?" Mercury asked with the distinct feeling that she wasn't going to like it.

"I need you to repair something for me." Pluto stepped to the workbench and placed a paper bag on one of the few clear spots. The bag emitted a sound of crunching metal as it hit the hard surface, making Mercury's teeth grate.

Mercury carefully opened the bag and looked inside. "This is just a bag of spare parts!"

Pluto shook her head. "I know it is no longer recognizable, but that is in fact the Mercury Computer."

Mercury's eyes fell to her workbench, where her miniature computer lay half-buried in a pile of schematics. "What are you talking about? The Mercury Computer is perfectly fine!"

Pluto's eyes shifted as she considered how much information she could safely give Sailor Mercury. "That is the computer that belongs to your future self," she said at last.

"My future self?" repeated Mercury. "That's an odd way of putting it.... Does that mean you've brought this computer back in time to be repaired?"

"That's right," affirmed Pluto, glad that Mercury had been able to figure out enough of her meaning without requiring an impossible explanation.

But Mercury was still confused. "Why was I not able to repair it in the future? I'm sure my future self has better tools, and more experience...."

"Your future self is indisposed at the moment," Pluto replied curtly. "She needs the computer back immediately, and this is the only period in time that I can travel to for help. You must repair it quickly!"

"You'd do better to replace it completely," said Mercury. She picked up her own computer and offered it to Pluto. "I don't think it will take me more than a few months to build a new one."

"I'm afraid it won't work," said Pluto. "Your future self has a slightly simpler version of this design, and I'm sure this computer has information that she cannot be allowed to have."

"I don't understand," said Mercury, looking down at her computer. "If she's a future version of me, she should know everything that I know, and her computer should have more data, not less."

"I can't tell you about the future," said Pluto, "but you must trust me. I need this computer in working condition immediately."

Mercury glanced into the bag again. "But it's a mess! Even if I could fix it, it would take years!"

"I don't have years," Pluto said sharply. "I have minutes, if that long."

"Why don't you just come back later, when I've had time to work on it?" asked Mercury. "You can travel forward in time to that point instantly, can't you?"

Pluto blinked several times, nonplussed, before she could speak. "Yes... I can do that. It would certainly speed up the process a bit."

"Come back in a few years," Mercury invited. "I'm sure I can have it finished by then."

Pluto's entire body tensed. "I will be back in six months. That is as long as I can give you to complete the job."

"Six months?" cried Mercury. "Even if I had nothing else to do...!"

"Six months," repeated Pluto, her voice leaving no doubt that she meant that deadline to the second. "Have the job finished when I return." She bowed and vanished in a swirl of darkness.

Mercury stared at the spot where Pluto had been for a few minutes before returning her attention to the bag of mangled machinery. "Six months..." she repeated to herself yet again. "She really sounded serious. I wonder what's going to happen in six months."

*************************************************

Serenity was so deep in concentration that she didn't hear the footsteps approaching her until they stopped just beside Amarah. She saw the shadow fall across the girl's body and looked up to see Pluto standing over her. "How is she?" the Guardian of Time asked.

"Not well, I'm afraid," Serenity replied, ashamed to admit her failure. "I'm sorry, Sailor Pluto. But I simply do not have the compassion necessary for the Silver Crystal's power to work."

"I know," Pluto said simply. "I did not expect you to be able to do the job alone. That's why I brought you some help."

"Help?" Gratitude beamed through Serenity's face. "What have you brought?"

Two figures stepped into view to either side of Sailor Pluto. Serenity's weakened eyes tried to focus on their faces, failed, and fell to their distinctive dark miniskirts. The two Sailor Scouts knelt to examine the body, allowing Serenity to recognize the Sailor Scouts of the Outer Planets at last.

Sailor Uranus' face twisted in disgust. "What the hell happened to her?" she asked.

"What does it matter what happened to her?" Neptune admonished her partner. "She needs treatment first. The details can wait until afterwards."

"Right," agreed Uranus. "So what can we do to help?"

"It is difficult," warned Serenity. "You must focus all of your energy, and more importantly, your love for this girl, into the Silver Imperium Crystal."

"Love for this girl?" asked Uranus. "But we don't even know her!"

"That is what makes the task so difficult," Serenity pointed out. "But once you have committed yourselves, you will not be able to pull away, or she will most certainly die."

"Why is that?" asked Neptune, a bit shocked at the severity of the situation.

Serenity hissed a quick breath and winced at the effort of maintaining her own concentration while speaking. "When a person is this near death, the pain of the healing process can be too much for their weak bodies. The power of the Crystal shuts down the body's life processes to prevent the healing from killing its target. It takes a great amount of energy to hold the person in that state of balance between life and death, and yet greater power to heal them on top of that. But if the energy is removed, they will pass completely into death, never to awaken."

"Then you need our power to help heal her?" Neptune surmised.

Serenity nodded. "I have enough energy to keep her alive, but the energy that heals is the energy of love, and I fear that I do not have enough love for this girl to heal her from such dire wounds."

"And you expect us to love her more than you do?" asked Uranus. "I may 'swing that way,' but my heart belongs to Lady Neptune!"

"I don't think she's talking about that kind of love," Neptune countered with a slight blush.

Uranus looked down at the blood-covered body. "Yeah, I know. Still, she's not much to look at." She produced a small handkerchief and did her best to wipe some of the blood off the girl's face. "Good thing you caught me while I have a cold."

Neptune clicked her tongue disapprovingly. "Uranus, what are you doing?"

"I can't very well love a girl if I don't even know what she looks like," Uranus replied as if it should have been obvious. But as her eyes returned to the girl's face, her impatient air turned to shock.

"What's wrong?" asked Neptune, instantly detecting Uranus' change of mood.

"I feel like I know this girl," said Uranus in a hollow voice. "I don't know why, but I think I've seen this face somewhere before."

Neptune shifted her position and stared hard through the sticky coating of blood. "I'm afraid I don't recognize her at all." She looked up at Uranus with an apologetic look on her face, but Uranus' expression had not changed. Something in that expression sent a chill down Neptune's spine. Uranus really did know the girl in front of her. And when Neptune looked down at that face again, she did notice something familiar about it. Her heart jumped in her chest; yes, she had seen it somewhere. Why Uranus had sparked the mysterious memory was a mystery, but the girl in front of her was someone she would sorely miss if she died.

"So we just focus on the Crystal, right?" asked Uranus, bringing Neptune's attention back to her surroundings. "We just concentrate on the Crystal and think about how much we love this girl?"

Serenity nodded. "It will be exhausting, but with all three of us working together, I'm sure we can succeed."

Uranus took a deep breath and placed both of her hands on the Crescent Moon Wand's handle, covering Serenity's hands. Neptune did the same, and the three women closed their eyes to concentrate on beginning the healing process.

Sailor Pluto smiled as she returned to the Gate of Time. She hadn't been able to be sure, even in the past, but she'd had a feeling that the past Uranus and Neptune would be able to love Uranus' future self, even if they couldn't recognize her in her disguised form. She would be able to return soon to recover Uranus, but there was another piece of business to conduct first. That is, assuming Sailor Mercury had done her part....

*************************************************

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

The young boy's screams echoed through the empty corridors of the Moon Palace as he ran, fleeing the dark form of the pursuing monster. Pure terror-fed adrenaline coursed through his body, giving him near superhuman speed, but the monster was effortlessly keeping up and even closing the gap as it chased him. A slight misstep would cost him his life if it caused him to trip, but the only thought in his mind was escape, the dire need to be anywhere but here; a place where no monsters could threaten him. But there was no such place left in the Moon Kingdom.

A flash of blue among the gray of the darkened palace caught his eye, and he turned toward it, pushing his body through the last few meters to what he could only hope was safety. Sure enough, as he drew close, he heard a female voice encouraging him. "Get behind me, young man. I'll protect you!" Gratefully, he ran right past the woman before turning to watch as she stepped in front of him and raised her hands.

Wind swirled around her feet, blowing the hem of her blue miniskirt up to her waist as she concentrated power into her hands. "By the power of Mercury!" she shouted, not flinching as the monster loomed over her. "DRIVING ICICLE RAIN!" The energy became a collection of giant spear-shaped wedges that floated in the air before Sailor Mercury, filling the entire hallway with shards of ice. With a forceful gesture, she sent the icicles flying toward the monster.

The monster bellowed more from rage than pain as the icicles that struck the body within the cloud of shadow pierced it deeply. Mercury stared into the darkness, waiting for a sign that her opponent was still alive before wasting any more precious energy on another attack. She received no warning, however, as the darkness itself wrapped around her waist and lifted her off her feet. She barely had time to scream before another tentacle encircled her neck and began to strangle her.

"Sailor Mercury, hang on!" shouted a voice from the general vicinity of the boy she'd been protecting. "By the power of Mars! SCORCHING INFERNO BLAST!" Mercury braced herself for the moment she'd always known would someday come, when she would have to sacrifice her life to protect the innocent citizens of the Moon Kingdom, but the flames of Mars were not as fierce as she had expected. In fact, they never touched her. The only thing even slightly warm was her feet. Mercury carefully looked down to see a thin line of fire tracing its way across the floor toward the monster. The flames penetrated the dark cloud without touching it, and for a few seconds, she feared that the attack would have no effect. Then the entire hallway in front of her was engulfed in a column of fire and screams of true agony. The tentacles relaxed their grip, and she slid to the floor and rolled to her feet a safe distance from the blazing monster.

Satisfied that the threat was no more, Mercury turned gratefully to her savior. "The fuse technique.... So you HAVE been paying attention to my research after all."

"It was better than frying you along with the monster," replied Sailor Mars. "This new breed is tough. There are dozens of them swarming all over the palace, and they don't answer to any sort of physical attack. Even Venus can barely keep them at bay. Jupiter and I are stuck doing all the work."

Mercury glanced at the monster with a whole new sense of unease. "I suppose I could try my freezing mist, but I don't know how effective it would be."

"Well, you're the brains of the group," Mars reminded her. "Think of something. The shelter's still safe, last I heard, but I don't know how much longer we can hold out." She turned her eyes to the ceiling and lowered her voice so that her young ward couldn't hear. "I think this may be the end for us."

"Well, your attack seems to work, at least," said Mercury. "You take this young one to the shelter. I'll try to get to my lab and see if I can find something that will help."

"Be careful," warned Mars. "You'll be alone at that end of the palace. Run if you have to – there shouldn't be anyone there who needs protecting."

Mercury nodded her acknowledgement. "Stay alive, Sailor Mars."

"You too," returned the warrior of fire. She grabbed the boy's hand. "Let's go, kid. We'll get you to someplace safe."

Mercury watched until Mars and the boy had turned the corner and disappeared from sight before setting off at a sprint for her lab. The besieged building now felt twice as empty after the brief interaction with other people, and every time she passed one of the gaping holes in the wall or ceiling that gave her a view of the pulsating black sky outside, it was a painful reminder of the power that Beryl had spread across the face of the Moon. The fact that the destruction had already reached the palace was the surest sign that the end had indeed come. For most of Beryl's invasion, the Moon Palace had stood as a bastion of security that not even the darkness could touch; now that it had finally fallen, it was a tomb for those who had come to it seeking sanctuary.

She wound her way through the claustrophobic maze, taking more than one shortcut through the holes in the walls and using the once beautiful courtyards to her advantage. Once, she spotted a winged monster flying overhead, but it was one that would have fallen easily to her attacks had it come within range. It flew off quickly, though, and she proceeded without further incident to her destination.

Something seemed to have dripped from the ceiling onto the hinges, as it took all of Mercury's strength to force the lab door open, but she finally managed to gain access to her lab. The windowless room was still miraculously intact, shutting out what little light would have come in from outside. Her foot reflexively flipped the switch on the small generator near the door, providing power to the string of small lanterns that circled the walls of the room and giving her a bit of illumination, if not quite enough to work by. Then again, she would most likely never be able to work in this lab again.

"There you are," announced a deep voice from the inner part of the lab. "I was worried that you wouldn't make it in time."

Mercury slid toward her workbench. "Who's there?" she demanded. "Show yourself!"

Sailor Pluto stepped into the light. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you. I forgot how stressful this time was."

Past tense... "You're a future version of Sailor Pluto, aren't you?" Mercury surmised.

"I gave you a job to do six months ago," said Pluto. "That time has elapsed. Is the Mercury Computer ready?"

Nothing like getting right to the point. "I finished the body work sooner than I'd expected," replied Mercury, "but recovering the data took a bit longer. I've really left the other Scouts high and dry these past few months working on the computer, but I knew how much it meant to you." She pushed some blueprints and half-finished – never to be finished – devices aside to uncover the future Mercury's computer. She handed it to Pluto, who eagerly flipped open the lid and watched it light up with activity.

"Amazing," assessed Pluto. "You've really outdone yourself."

"It was nothing, other than sleepless nights and missed battles," Mercury humbly replied.

"But there is one more thing I need you to do. A simple thing." She handed the computer back to Mercury. "This computer has access to the data archives of this time. I need that access removed."

Mercury gasped and glared at Pluto as if she'd asked her to erase a chapter from a holy text. "But that's all of my research! Hundreds of years of work, all for the sole purpose of providing valuable information for future reference... and you want me to destroy it all?"

"She'll figure out how to restore that access in due time," Pluto assured her. "But it's too soon at this time. She isn't ready for the information in the archives yet."

"'She?'" repeated Mercury. "Who are you talking about? I thought this computer belonged to me!"

"I suppose it's no secret now," Pluto said grudgingly. "You and the other Sailor Scouts will not survive this battle. However, my past self and Queen Serenity will use our powers to send your souls into the future to be reborn as ordinary girls until the time when you will be reawakened as Sailor Scouts to fight Queen Beryl again. Your reincarnations will have no memories of their past lives, and will have to mature as Sailor Scouts before they can use their full powers, as you now can. That information must remain hidden from them until the time is right."

Mercury's head had begun to ache as Pluto had confirmed her worst fears. The Moon Kingdom was indeed about to fall. But at least there was hope. "All right," she agreed. "I'll do it." She tapped in a quick sequence of commands on the keyboard. "There. I've restricted this computer's access to the database and deleted all of the files in the temporary directory. That should destroy anything that she may have accessed prior to the computer being smashed."

"Excellent," said Pluto as she recovered the computer. "I'm sorry to have been such a burden on you, but I truly had no choice."

"It's all right," Mercury assured her. Of course, if she removed that access from her own computer in this time, then Pluto's visit would turn out not to have been necessary in the first place, wouldn't it? She silently decided to do that before leaving the lab.

"I have one more order of business to attend to before I return to my own time," Pluto announced. "I'll take my leave of you now."

"Go in peace, Sailor Pluto," said Mercury. "If you happen by the shelter, let the others know I'll be there shortly. I just have to gather a few things."

"Certainly," agreed Pluto. She bowed gracefully before quickly making her way out of the lab through the door. She heard Sailor Mercury begin shifting the contents of her workbench around, searching for equipment that might help in the upcoming battle, as the scream of a rapidly falling object echoed through the sky. Seconds later, the ceiling of the laboratory caved in, burying the entire room under a ton of rubble as yet another monster landed to begin its assault on what was left of the Moon Palace.

"I'm sorry," Pluto whispered, clapping her hands together for a brief prayer. "This was your time." Even without Pluto's interference, this was where Sailor Mercury's grave had been – among the inventions that she had so treasured. This was the hardest part of having chosen to work so closely with the people of this universe... but she had no time to mourn. There was one last order of business before the past was closed to her forever. And once again, it all depended on Queen Serenity and the Outer Scouts upholding the faith that she'd placed in them....

*************************************************

Uranus pulled a hand away from the Crescent Moon Wand to wipe the sweat from her forehead. "I don't know about you two, but I'm about to collapse here."

Serenity's muscles tensed. "You can't. The healing process has barely begun. If we lose your energy now, she will die."

"I can keep going," said Neptune, "but I don't know for how much longer. I feel so drained...."

"We all have to keep going," said Serenity. "Sailor Pluto is depending on us."

Neptune glanced up at the queen. "You're getting a bit pale, Queen Serenity."

"I have a duty to uphold," replied Serenity. "I cannot let my weakness stand in the way of what must be done." With that, she started to pitch forward, but Uranus caught her with her free hand.

"I think you may have to, this time," said Uranus. "We're not accomplishing anything but wearing ourselves out."

"We must keep trying," urged Serenity as she tried to sit up. "We have to save...." Her breath halted for a few terrifying moments before she managed to catch it again. Her hands fell from the wand, and she slumped forward across Amarah's body.

"Queen Serenity!" cried Neptune.

"It was impossible from the start," Uranus grudgingly admitted. "Even our combined powers weren't enough to save her."

"No... Pluto would not have entrusted us with an impossible task," Serenity sobbed, a single tear falling from her eye to splash onto the crystal floor. "This was entirely the fault of my frailty."

The great door slowly swung open. Serenity raised her head, prepared to face the Guardian of Time with the shame due her failure, but her visitor was none other than her own daughter, with a very shocked expression on her face. Serena ran toward the group in the center of the room without even remembering to lift her skirt, but for once, she managed to make the entire distance without tripping. She slid the last few inches on her knees to kneel beside her mother. "Mother, what happened? Are you all right?"

Serenity pushed herself into a sitting position and shook her head. "I am not hurt, Daughter... but I do not deserve such good fortune. I have failed her."

"You mean this woman?" asked Serena, trying to keep her gaze on the bloody mess of a body on the floor without throwing up. "What happened to her?"

"Sailor Pluto brought her to me," replied Serenity. "But I couldn't save her."

Serena picked up one of the bloody hands and held it lovingly between her palms. With a start, she immediately let it fall to the floor again. "She's still warm, Mother! She's not dead!"

"She is beyond our help," countered Serenity. "There is no way to revive her now."

"But you can't just give up!" protested Serena. "She needs you!"

"There is nothing that can be done, Daughter...."

"Don't say that!" Serena shouted angrily. "You can't give up! I won't let you!"

"Better watch your mouth, Princess," warned Uranus. "That's the Queen of the Moon Kingdom you're talking to!"

"All the more reason that she can't just let this woman die!" Serena turned to her mother with remorse in her eyes. "I know you only yelled at me before because you love me and wanted me to be safe. But as the queen, you have to love everyone equally! How can you place me above anyone else?"

Serena's words shocked her mother to the core. "You're my only daughter, Serena! Of course I love you more than anyone else! How could I not?"

"If it were me lying on the floor dying, you wouldn't quit trying to save me," said Serena. "So why should anyone else deserve any less? Everyone deserves to live, Mother. And if you have the power to save them, as I know you do, it's your duty to use it."

Serenity regained her composure quickly. "You're right," she agreed. "I must try again."

Serena felt a flood of relief as her mother gathered her strength and raised the Crescent Moon Wand again. All too quickly, however, the queen collapsed again, her energy already completely spent. Serena lunged forward to catch her and prop her up until Uranus and Neptune could support her. Once her mother was in the hands of the Sailor Scouts, Serena grabbed the Crescent Moon Wand and held it over Amarah's body, closing her eyes in concentration.

"Serena, what are you doing?" cried Serenity. "Leave her be! There's nothing you can do!"

"Wait, Queen Serenity!" urged Neptune. "Look at the Imperium Silver Crystal!"

Serenity tried to do just that, but the glow of the Crystal was so bright that it hurt her eyes even when she turned away from it. The heat radiating from it coated her in delicious warmth that was deceptively comfortable, and she could feel the weariness melting away from her as if the energy filling the room were seeping into her body and reviving her tired spirit.

A few mere seconds later, the light faded, and the Imperium Silver Crystal's glow shrank into the jewel until it was gone. Serena took a deep breath and wiped her forehead with the back of her arm. "I think she'll be okay," she announced.

Serenity looked down at Amarah to see that the girl's clothes and face were still dotted with small spots of blood, but there were no visible injuries remaining, and her chest was moving as she breathed. "Amazing," she whispered. "Without even knowing her name...." She glanced up at Sailor Uranus, hoping for some indication that her mind was just playing tricks on her, but Uranus' attention was fixed raptly on the princess. Neptune's as well, she noted out of the corner of her eye as she looked up to see what was so fascinating about her daughter – then gasped as she saw the glowing mark of the crescent moon outlined on Serena's forehead. It shone for just a second before fading, as the fabric of Serena's dress settled around her as if it had momentarily escaped from gravity's pull and was only now subject to physical laws again. 

The girl blinked and stared at the three wondering faces, her own face wearing an expression that was no less puzzled than theirs. "What are you guys staring at?" she asked. "Do I have something on my face?"

"You did," Uranus replied bluntly.

"It was the symbol of Planet Power," said Neptune. "The crescent moon, symbol of the power of the Moon."

"It is an ill omen," Serenity said darkly. "Planet Power is never this strong on a thriving world. If the power of the Moon is gathering here, into Serena... then the Moon is weaker than I thought."

"The Moon is weak?" asked Serena, still confused. "What are you talking about?"

Serenity shook her head. "Don't mind us. Political matters are weighing heavily on my mind."

Uranus took the cue. "It's just Sailor Scout stuff. Your Highness certainly has more important things to worry about."

Serena had to think about that for a bit. Uranus wasn't normally the type to use such a formal tone, even when addressing the Princess of the Moon Kingdom. She was obviously trying to cover something up, and it would probably be worth looking into when the excitement had died down a bit. For now, to cover up her intentions, she pouted, putting on her most disappointed face. "All right," she whined. "I'll just go to my room and study." She handed the Crescent Moon Wand back to her mother, stood up, and left the room, her air of angst hiding the smile within.

Neptune chuckled as Serena left the room. "What an overactor. You may want to keep an eye on her, Queen Serenity."

"Perhaps," mused Serenity. "But the fact that she bears the symbol of the Moon's power might very well mean that she can take care of herself. No, I'm afraid that Serena is the least of my worries right now...."

"Indeed she is," agreed Sailor Pluto.

Uranus stood up to bring herself to Pluto's level. "Do you always have to just appear like that?" she grumbled.

"I don't have the time to make a proper entrance," Pluto replied as the other two women stood up. "I've come to bring Amarah back."

"Would you mind telling us whose life we busted our butts trying to save?" asked Uranus. "Who is this girl?"

Pluto smiled mysteriously. "You know her better than you think." She knelt to pick up the still-unconscious Amarah.

"Sailor Pluto, please," said Serenity, stepping forward. "The things I have seen today speak of great disaster to come. I beg you, tell me what is going to happen to my kingdom and my people!"

Pluto lowered her eyes despondently. "I cannot. To know what will happen, whether it be pleasant of painful, can bring only misery. You will learn in due time what course of events awaits you."

Crestfallen, Serenity seemed ready to ask another question, but held her tongue. "Go with the power of the Moon, Sailor Pluto."

"And you as well, my Queen," replied Pluto. With a slight bow – the best she could manage with Amarah still in her arms – Pluto vanished from the throne room for the last time.

"I suppose we should be going as well," said Neptune.

Uranus nodded. "There's something about the way she was acting that I didn't like."

"Her voice gave me the chills," agreed Neptune. "Has she always been that cold?"

"She seems very different from the trusted advisor I have known for so long," added Serenity.

"Then what are you going to do?" asked Neptune. "Are you going to prepare for whatever is to come?"

"There is no secret about it," Serenity replied smoothly. "Beryl is preparing her invasion. Her minions draw ever closer, and if the Moon has entrusted its power to my daughter, then it is time for us to fight to defend it." She strode to her throne and pressed a button on one of the arms. "Sailor Mercury, are you there?"

"I am, Your Majesty," replied a voice from the opposite arm.

"I would like to speak with you about the Moon Kingdom's defenses," Serenity announced.

"I'm afraid something of the utmost importance has come up," Mercury apologized. "I need to get started on it right away, but I'll go and see you as soon as I can."

"Some people..." bemoaned Uranus as Serenity removed her finger from the button.

"This, too, worries me," said Serenity. "Of all the Sailor Scouts, Sailor Mercury must best understand the nature of the danger facing this kingdom. What could possibly be more important than that?"

"It would not be my place to say anything further on the matter," said Neptune. "Uranus and I should return to our posts, lest more trouble creep into the Solar System while we relax our guard."

"Couldn't even take the time to bring us back," Uranus grumbled under her breath. "She's got a lot of nerve."

"Come on, Uranus," urged Neptune. "We've got a long way to go, so we'd best get started." Uranus nodded gruffly in response, and the pair bowed hasty goodbyes and made their way to the door.

Serenity watched them leave, almost sad to see them go. "Perhaps Sailor Pluto is right. The one who spends her time worrying about the future will never get to experience the present – and that is where all true experiences lie." Yet even those comforting words, lost in the empty room, could not shake the premonition she'd received from Sailor Pluto – a vision of impending doom that could not be stopped, even by the Guardian of Time herself.

*************************************************

Neptune cautiously pushed open the door of the supply closet and peeked inside, hoping that her luck would hold out and the room would be empty. Thankfully, it was so. Relieved at her discovery that the restaurant was indeed as empty as it had appeared from the outside, she carried Amy into the small room and closed the door tightly. Hopefully, Mewtwo would be unable to track them down – at least long enough for the injured girl to recover a bit.

"Now, let's take a look at your injuries," said Neptune. She laid Amy on the floor and carefully examined her, prodding at her joints for signs of tenderness. Amy's left leg sat at an unnatural angle, which was an immediate cause for concern, but Neptune had to be sure to check for all possibilities before addressing any problems. Relocating a leg could be harmful or even fatal if it exacerbated another, more serious injury. Fortunately, though Amy's muscles were still tense from her struggles, her bones seemed to be intact. Neptune carefully rolled Amy over and ran her fingers along Amy's spine, applying just enough pressure to feel any impending fractures without worsening any damage that might be present. She had to check some of the middle vertebrae a few times to be sure, but she concluded that there was no permanent damage.

"You're a strong one, Sailor Mercury," said Neptune as she rolled Amy over again, keeping her left leg on the floor. "Now, about that leg.... This is going to hurt a bit, but you'll have to forgive me." She sat down at Amy's feet and grabbed her left knee in both hands, bracing one foot in her crotch. With a sudden motion, she yanked on the leg with full force, twisting Amy's hip back into place. Amy cried out in pain, sending a chill down Neptune's spine, but when the girl fell silent, she was still peacefully asleep. "That's it, get your rest," Neptune encouraged her brave charge. "I can't do anything for you once you wake up."

Everything was quiet now, Neptune thought to herself as she sat with Amy in the closet. Perhaps a bit too quiet for her liking, but it was better than the sounds of battle that she'd heard all too much of recently. She felt a bit guilty taking a break while the other Sailor Scouts – not to mention Uranus – were still out there fighting for their lives, but she couldn't leave Amy alone.

Now that she thought about it, what had become of Uranus? She had stayed behind to distract Mewtwo long enough to buy Neptune time to escape, but had she been able to escape herself? Well, of course she had, there was no question of that; but where would she have gone afterward? Probably to find the other Sailor Scouts, assuming she was strong enough to keep fighting. All the more reason to get back out there and find her quickly – but if anyone were to see her leaving this place and find Amy while she was helpless....

Her head jerked up as she heard footsteps from just outside the door. Someone must have seen her enter the building! She spun around, positioning herself between Amy and the door, and readied herself for an attack. It wouldn't be enough to stop Mewtwo, but if it was one of the other enemies, she might stand a chance.

The intruder stopped just outside the door and knocked. "Sailor Neptune, it's me," said Sailor Pluto's voice. Neptune relaxed as the door opened and Sailor Pluto sidestepped into the room; but her mood changed when she saw the body in Pluto's arms. She leapt to her feet to take Amarah from Pluto and cradle her.

"Uranus! My god! What happened to her?"

"Mewtwo was too strong for her to fight alone," replied Pluto with a touch of regret. "I was unable to help her without placing myself in danger as well, until it was almost too late."

"Almost?" repeated Neptune. "Then she's all right?"

Pluto nodded. "The strength to save her came from the last place I would have expected... but perhaps it was the first place I should have looked."

"I don't understand," said Neptune, unconsciously wrapping her arms just a bit tighter around her partner.

"I'm sure you've heard it said that to protect the future, we must preserve the past," Pluto exposited. "But in my case, the past and the future are no different. Though it pains me to have done so, I was forced to meddle once again in the past. I have irrevocably changed the history of this timeline. And yet, perhaps it was for the best. The fall of the Moon Kingdom was much swifter this time around, with much less suffering on the whole."

"According to the Royal Archives, Beryl crushed the Moon Kingdom of the Silver Millennium with little resistance," said Neptune.

"And be glad you no longer remember the way it was before," returned Pluto. "I know of pasts and futures full of more tragedy than you can imagine. Even the possibilities that never came to be... I remember them all."

"And what of the present?" asked Neptune, feeling like the question was begging to be asked.

"The present...?" Pluto smiled sarcastically. "It is really none of my business." She fished the Mercury Computer out of the air and tossed it to Neptune, who let it land on Amarah's chest. "Give that to Sailor Mercury before she wakes up. I have done enough for the time being." With a final wave of her staff, Pluto vanished yet again, this time satisfied that her work was at last done – for the moment.

Neptune blinked at the now-empty air and shook her head slowly. "I don't understand that woman at all."

Amy groaned and stretched her arms and legs. Neptune held her breath, expecting Amy's eyes to open at any second and see her, but the girl rolled onto her side and remained asleep. Neptune let out a relieved sigh. "That was a close one," she said. Not willing to take any chances, she shifted her grip on Amarah so that she could grab the Mercury Computer and put it on the floor just far enough from its owner that she wasn't likely to roll on top of it. "I'm sorry, Sailor Mercury, but I think Sailor Pluto had a point. I can't be here when you wake up. But I'll be watching you from far away." She lovingly brushed the hair from Amy's forehead.

"Mother..." moaned Amy. Neptune quickly checked the smile that was forming on her face and pulled her hand away. What had she been thinking? She was acting rather motherly....

The next groan startled her even more than any of the ones that had come before, but this time, it was Amarah who was beginning to stir into consciousness. Neptune gave Amy one last lingering look before hefting Amarah and backing out of the room. Her course was clear: while Amy was safely recovering from her injuries, the other Sailor Scouts were out there fighting an impossible enemy without any help. Maybe Neptune didn't have the power to travel through time, or see the future as easily as looking down the street, but there was one thing that could not be any surer. To protect the future, she would have to fight the enemies that threatened her past.


	15. 14: Sailor Scouts Reunited

A General Time Paradox

Chapter 14: Sailors Reunited

Sailor Jupiter leaned against the wall of the Crown Arcade to catch her breath. One mad run carrying Tuxedo Mask, followed by a difficult battle against Ryoko and then another top speed run back to her starting point, had taken all of her energy. She was the first one back; she could only pray that she was not going to be the last. The thought that some of the others might not have survived their battles seemed ludicrous – after all, they were Sailor Scouts, and they had survived everything that had been thrown at them until now. But their strength was in their teamwork; separated from each other, there was a chance that the enemy would overpower them. Not to mention that the invincible armored enemy had probably managed to track one of the others down and had her all to itself for the duration of the battle with Ryoko. She wouldn't believe that one of her friends was dead – not without proof, at least – but it seemed likely that the Sailor Scouts would never fight as a full group again. And with Mars out of the battle as well... things didn't look hopeful for the home team.

Still, the forward thinker in Jupiter demanded that she forget about the worst that could happen to her friends and figure out her own best course of action. With no sign of the enemy in the area, there was no reason to leap into a battle she wasn't ready for. So her best bet would be to stay where she was and recover while she waited for the other Sailor Scouts to join her. Nothing else mattered, she told herself, but her mind continued to race, making it nearly impossible for her to relax.

Minutes passed, and each tick of the clock in Jupiter's head added its own fraction of certainty that none of the other Sailor Scouts were going to make it to the meeting point. But she had to keep her faith and wait for them. Alone, there was nothing she could do.

"Hey! There's Sailor Jupiter!" shouted an excited voice from down the street. Jupiter looked up to see both Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus running toward her at full speed. She pushed herself from the wall and went to meet them halfway for a big group hug.

"I'm so glad to see you guys!" said Jupiter.

"Same here," said Venus. "We were afraid Mewtwo had gotten to you."

"Mewtwo?" asked Jupiter. "Is that the name of that thing in the armor?"

"That's what Lina called it," confirmed Venus. "But whatever it's called, I don't look forward to meeting it again."

"Everything will be all right," Sailor Moon assured them. "Sailor Mercury will be here soon, and I know she'll have a plan."

Jupiter's earlier doubt cast its shadow over her once again. "I hope she makes it back alive."

"What do you mean?" asked Sailor Moon, completely clueless.

"I mean, there were only five of us when we got attacked by Mewtwo before. It didn't come after me and Tuxedo Mask, and it didn't go after you two, so..."

The other two moved their lips silently as they performed the mental calculations. Venus was the first to arrive at Jupiter's conclusion. "So, it must have gone after Mercury?"

"Well, that's all right then!" Sailor Moon said optimistically. "If anyone could figure out how to fight Mewtwo, it's Sailor Mercury."

"I sure hope you're right," replied Jupiter. "But I have a bad feeling...."

"There's nothing to worry about," Sailor Moon insisted. "She'll be here any minute. I can feel it."

"But what if Mewtwo gets here first?" asked Venus, picking up on Jupiter's concern. "Without Sailor Mercury, there's no way we'll be able to come up with a useable plan."

"Don't count us out just yet," Jupiter reprimanded her. "Maybe we're not geniuses like she is, but we're not helpless, and I'm not going to stand here waiting for her because I don't think I can do anything. We've all got brains, and there's nothing wrong with them!" She glanced aside at Sailor Moon, who selectively failed to notice.

Venus half-smiled. "You're right, Jupiter. We've got no one to depend on but ourselves."

"I don't know..." said Sailor Moon hesitantly. "I don't want to doubt my friends."

"Don't think of it that way," replied Jupiter. "We're not saying that she won't come in time. We're just making sure we have all our bases covered. When Sailor Mercury shows up, we'll have a plan already set up, and she can start from there. And if it happens that Mewtwo beats her here," she added with a shrug, "we'll have a chance to defend ourselves."

Sailor Moon pondered Jupiter's words carefully. "Okay," she agreed at last. "Let's put our heads together and come up with a way to beat Mewtwo!"

The girls nodded and formed a huddle in the middle of the street. "Let's see," Jupiter began. "My electricity wasn't able to get through Mewtwo's barrier, and neither was Sailor Moon's tiara. So I guess we'll have to try Venus' Crescent Beam and see how that works."

"I've still got the Crescent Moon Wand," Sailor Moon pointed out, holding the device up to demonstrate. "I was going to try using it before, but I didn't get the chance."

"Good," Jupiter encouraged her. "We need to come up with every possible scenario."

"So, what do we do if neither of those attacks work?" asked Venus.

Jupiter sighed. "I don't know. I'm fresh out of ideas."

"Maybe we'd be better off planning an escape," suggested Venus.

"I don't think that's an option either," said Jupiter. "Mewtwo can lift us right off the ground like it did before, and we wouldn't even be able to move. Whatever we do, we're going to have to make our stand as soon as it shows up."

"I've got it!" shouted Sailor Moon. "We can hide somewhere nearby, and when Mewtwo shows up, we blast it with every attack we've got all at once!"

"An admirable idea," said a deep voice in the minds of the Sailor Scouts, "but I'm afraid there is a significant flaw. I have been monitoring your minds since we met, so I know where you are at all times."

"It's here!" Jupiter shouted unnecessarily, spinning around to look for the source of the voice. The street was empty except for the three Sailor Scouts and a few cars still parked along the curb. It didn't occur to her to look up until it was too late. She felt herself float up, her feet losing contact with the ground, and the familiar sickening weightless sensation gripped her again. The other two girls echoed her surprised squeal as they, too, rose above the street surface. Mewtwo descended from the sky to their level, its impassive stare examining the three of them as if it had never seen them before.

Venus managed to recover her senses quickly and leveled her finger at Mewtwo. "VENUS CRESCENT BEAM SMASH!"

Mewtwo didn't bother to acknowledge the beam as it struck the invisible shield and dissipated in a harmless ripple. Instead, it moved its hands in a complicated pattern, causing the three girls to spin and bob in the air. "Enjoy your last moments of life while you can. Soon, I will make you beg for death just as Sailor Mercury did."

Sailor Moon gasped in horror. "What did you do to Mercury, you monster?"

"That word again..." said Mewtwo, apparently very displeased at the sound of it. "I do what I am ordered in exchange for my freedom. What is so monstrous about desiring to be free?"

"No one can force you to hurt innocent people," countered Sailor Moon. "Someone as powerful as you can always ACK!" Her body tensed as one of Mewtwo's fists clenched tightly, cutting her sentence off prematurely. Sailor Moon's hand rose to her throat, grasping at air as her jaw fell open and her tongue involuntarily protruded from her mouth. A strangled gurgle escaped her lips.

"Shut up," Mewtwo deadpanned. "I know that you do not fully understand my situation. The 'advice' you offer is useless to me."

"Stop that!" shouted Jupiter. "You're killing her!"

"In case you hadn't noticed," Mewtwo returned disdainfully, "that is the intention."

Jupiter growled angrily, but forced herself to resist the urge to stick her neck out any further. From what she'd seen already, Mewtwo would have no problem turning away her attack and counterattacking with lethal force while not letting up at all on Sailor Moon. To her right, Venus clenched her fists, similarly frustrated but equally powerless.

Suddenly, Mewtwo released its choke hold on Sailor Moon, leaving her alternately coughing and gasping for air. "Strange," it said. "I don't understand your thoughts. I am trying to kill you, yet you feel... something with which I am not familiar. There is fear, and yet there is another emotion. You seem to genuinely wish to help me."

"It's called compassion," offered Sailor Venus, immediately wishing she hadn't.

"Com-pas-sion." Mewtwo performed the mental equivalent of rolling the unfamiliar syllables on its tongue. "Caring for another enough to be willing to make a sacrifice on that one's behalf? Why would you feel this toward someone who is trying to kill you?"

"Because..." Sailor Moon forced out through her crushed throat, "it's not... your fault...." She had to stop for several sharp breaths every time she ran out of air.

"An interesting philosophy," mused Mewtwo. "Taking into account the enemy's motives in addition to their actions when evaluating one's own emotions... clearly, if it reduces willingness to fight against a dangerous opponent, it is a weakness." It extended a paw, and Sailor Moon doubled over in pain. "I must know what drives you to weakness, human. I must discover how far you must be pushed before you are ready to fight." Sailor Moon reeled several more times as Mewtwo attacked her again and again.

"Stop it!" Jupiter shouted despite herself. "She can't fight back!"

"She does not try," Mewtwo corrected her, continuing to pound Sailor Moon with its mind. "She withholds her most powerful attacks because she sees no reason to harm me. The fact that I threaten to end her life is not sufficient for her. Why is this?"

"There is no reason to kill anyone, ever," replied Venus, terror sapping the emotion that would normally have permeated her speech. "There's always another way to solve your problems. That's what Sailor Moon believes."

Mewtwo chuckled, giving Sailor Moon a momentary reprieve before it resumed the beating. "Ah, yes. Belief. The process of accepting a proposition as true on a purely emotional basis when there is no evidence to support it. Once again, emotions prove to be the cause of weakness."

Sailor Moon braced herself against the continuing psychic blows and fought for the air to speak. "We... may... be... weak... but... our... wills... are... strong!"

"Breaking your body would be no challenge," agreed Mewtwo. "I shall break your will as well, and then you will be completely broken."

"Never..." moaned Sailor Moon. "You'll... never...." The next blow struck her square in the face, and her head dropped as a trickle of blood ran from her nose.

"You may be strong-willed," Mewtwo admitted, "but your spirit struggles with itself. It seeks survival, acceptance, peace.... My will is focused on the fight. Therefore, when our wills collide in battle, it is I who am the stronger."

"There's more to strength than being able to fight," Jupiter put in, although she had no clue why keeping Mewtwo talking seemed like a good idea.

Mewtwo turned its eyes on her for the first time, instantly making her regret her decision. "Is that so? Then show me this strength of which you speak." An invisible force pounded her in the stomach, emptying her lungs in one violent burst. Her vision faded to a dull beige plaid, and she had to fight to stay awake and prevent it from all going black.

Venus watched helplessly, nearly bursting with the desire to shout something, or attack Mewtwo, or do anything at all so that she didn't have to passively watch her friends being tortured. But that would condemn her to share their fate. If she couldn't protect them, the least she could do was avoid catching Mewtwo's attention and keep herself in fighting shape.

It worked for about twenty seconds, which she counted to herself as a way to keep calm, before Mewtwo shifted its focus to her. A lump formed in her throat as the blue lights in the visor burned into her. "You are the one I saw earlier, before you assumed your current form."

"What do you want with me?" asked Venus, her voice laced with fear.

"That is what I hope to discover by examining you," it replied. "Humans are such diverse creatures.... I feel that I could learn volumes from each one of you."

"What do you learn by hurting us?" she asked, searching for a way to dissuade it from continuing its painful investigations.

Venus felt Mewtwo's mind pressing on her body from all sides as it responded to her question. "I learn that, for all that they laud their superiority over Pokémon, humans are in fact weak and inferior creatures. I learn that, while I have been a slave to humans my entire existence, I have in fact gained nothing through that alliance." It idly curled a hand into a fist, curling Venus' body backward into an arch, and continued talking to itself over her screams. "Perhaps this is what Chronite meant by setting me free. By defeating the Sailor Scouts, the most powerful of humans, I will prove that Pokémon, and not humans, are the superior race, destined to rule the world with humans as our slaves!"

"You haven't beaten us yet!" Venus defiantly forced through her tightly clenched teeth, setting her jaw to prevent the screams from escaping.

"True," agreed Mewtwo, much to her dismay. "That is indeed a problem. But it will not remain a problem for much longer." Venus felt two sharp jolts on the sides of her head, and the world was suddenly spinning in a dizzy rush. The logical part of her brain shut down, preventing her from thinking in words any longer. Her consciousness was reduced to a series of mental scribbles, jagged shapes of pain tearing through a contorted background.

Sailor Moon raised her head with an effort that felt like pulling it out of a vise. "Stop that!" she shouted. "Leave them alone!"

Mewtwo shook its head disdainfully. "There is still so much I do not understand about humans." It raised its paws, and all three Sailor Scouts' bodies stiffened straight as boards. "Fortunately, I have plenty of time to learn."

*************************************************

Amy sat up suddenly and shook the cobwebs out of her head. "Where am I?" she asked. She was sitting on a hard floor, surrounded by – she had to wait for her eyes to focus – shelves full of cans and pouches of all sizes. Her left hip was throbbing painfully, and it took her a few seconds to remember why. But once she did, the entire torture session at the hands of Mewtwo played back through her mind, sending shudders through her body. She had no idea how she'd escaped, or where she'd ended up; but as long as she was free of Mewtwo's terrible curiosity, she was in a good position.

The same couldn't necessarily be said of the other Sailor Scouts, though... if Mewtwo had managed to track her down, it could certainly find the others as well, and who knew how much time it had had while she was unconscious to do just that? Then again, what guarantee was there that it wasn't searching for her right now? There was no telling how secure this room was as a hiding place – although the fact that she apparently hadn't been found yet was a good sign.

Deciding that she couldn't rely on her safety until she'd figured out where she was, Amy carefully pulled her left leg in, testing her hip to make sure she'd be able to walk. There was a dull ache as her leg moved, but no sudden stab of the type that would indicate a problem. The only anomalous feeling was that of her heel hitting something on the floor, pushing it aside. She looked down to see what it was, but what she saw only proved that her eyes still hadn't recovered completely. It appeared to be the Mercury Computer, intact and no worse for having been shattered to pieces earlier that day.

She blinked several times, afraid to touch the device for fear that it was a cleverly constructed trap. It couldn't possibly actually be the Mercury Computer. Then again, she had to assume that whoever had rescued her had also left it here for her, which would imply that it was not only safe, but advisable, to investigate it. Timidly, she scooped up the computer and flipped the lid up.

GREETINGS, SAILOR MERCURY, said the screen. INITIATING USER INTERFACE.

Amy stood up, watching the screen as the computer went through its startup sequence. It appeared to be functioning, at least, and it had recognized her identity. Still skeptical, she waited for the prompt and typed in the command to access her personal data. Much to her surprise, the computer instantly responded to her request; and even more astonishingly, all of her settings were exactly as she had left them. The list of files didn't appear to be missing any entries, and a quick browse through a few random files confirmed that their contents were intact. However it had happened, what she held was an exact copy of her old computer, data and all.

A thought struck her, and she quickly tapped in a new command. "Computer, retrieve the entry from Sailor Mercury's journal concerning the penetration of an enemy barrier."

NO MATCH, responded the computer.

"That's impossible!" she protested, entering another command. "Access the Silver Millennium Data Archive and find the file."

ACCESS DENIED, said the computer. ARCHIVE CANNOT BE ACCESSED FROM THIS NODE.

"Denied? But I was just...." Amy's voice trailed off as she realized what had happened. Even though the copy was identical to the original from her perspective, the data server from the Silver Millennium could tell the difference, and wouldn't allow access to anything less than the authentic Mercury Computer. The local copy of the file that she'd been using was also gone, as was the entirety of her temporary directory. In other words, there was no way to find out the end result of the former Sailor Mercury's research.

Amy resolutely set the computer aside. It was worthless to her without the information she needed. If only she'd had more time to read it while she still had access to the archive, or she'd thought to make a copy of the file! But there was no time to bemoan the loss. As a Sailor Scout, it was her duty to get back into the fight and protect her friends, whether or not she had an answer from an expert.

With a shout of "MERCURY POWER!" she was suited for action. Mercury pulled down her visor and retrieved her computer. "See if you can locate Mewtwo," she commanded it.

SUBJECT LOCATED, said the screen. Her visor displayed a map of the local area, marking her position as well as Mewtwo's with arrows. The two markers were farther apart than she had expected, but still only a few minutes away, if she ran at top speed and took a few shortcuts. She committed the path to memory and packed her computer up again, mustering her determination to fight against any odds.

But as she left the building and wound her way through the streets and back alleys of the Juuban District, her mind kept wandering back to the few cryptic clues in the journal entry as if the solution could be deduced from pure logic where the former Mercury's months of research had failed. The combined powers of the Sailor Scouts could create a breach in a shield if concentrated in a single spot for ten seconds, but some other element was necessary to exploit that breach.... There had to be a way to use it all to defeat Mewtwo, but how?

*************************************************

How long had it been? Minutes? Hours? Days? It all felt the same anymore. The agony of torture stretched as far as she could remember into the past as well as the future. Existence was pain – she had a name, and a home, and friends; but any attempt to visualize any of those things ran into the same barrier of pain and drew a blank. There was no outside to this world where everything was pain, no escape -

No! She could not allow herself to let go like that! She had to focus on something, anything... had to break free of the enclosure and return her consciousness to the real world. She dug down deep, sought any memory that was within her reach. Only one thing emerged from the haze – a shining light, with a multifaceted crystal at its center. It was a hole in the pain, and she moved toward it. She cupped her – something – around it and let its warmth envelop her.

Sailor Moon awoke. She was floating helplessly in Mewtwo's grip, her body's pain so complete that she could no longer feel the individual blows from the hostile mind. Everything was silent, even though she could see Sailors Jupiter and Venus screaming just to her left. She wondered if something was wrong with her ears, or she'd suffered some kind of brain damage; but losing her focus made the world start to slip away again. She concentrated on the image of the Silver Imperium Crystal, blocking out everything that threatened to send her back into the void.

Her fingers curled around the handle of the Crescent Moon Wand, and a new sensation broke through – the reassurance that the object in her hand could give her strength. That was followed all too quickly by fear that she might drop it and lose the one thing that could save her. But she focused on the crystal, willed it to give her the strength to fight back.

At last, her body began to move. It felt like swimming through thick soup, as if she'd been buried alive and was trying to claw her way to the surface through six feet of packed earth. The wand in her hand weighed as much as a car as she lifted it with her numb arms. Yet, somehow, she found the power within her, and the wand reluctantly rose at her command until it was directly between her and Mewtwo.

The pain ebbed, and for a second, she thought that the Silver Crystal was protecting her. Then Mewtwo's voice cut through the silence, and she knew that it had merely stopped attacking her for the moment. "What are you doing?" it asked. "Do you intend to strike me with that wand?"

Sailor Moon tried to reply, but her mouth was as unresponsive as the rest of her body. It took all of her strength merely to hold the wand where it was.

"Your thoughts are so confused that even I cannot read them," announced Mewtwo. "How can you hope to accomplish anything when you can't form a coherent thought?"

"Wiiiiiiilinnnnnnnnn," moaned Sailor Moon. Her voice sounded as if she was hearing it underwater, and she had to force herself to breathe, reminding herself that she was not going to drown.

"What was that?" asked Mewtwo.

"I wwill win!" Sailor Moon repeated, finally feeling the strength of the Silver Imperium Crystal within her. "I will defeat you!"

"You have no idea how to do that," Mewtwo declared confidently. "I can read your every thought, and you don't have a plan."

She hated to admit it, even to herself, but the enemy was right. As determined as she was to win, she still hadn't come up with a way to beat Mewtwo. But she would find it, somehow.

"I doubt you'll find a way to stop me," replied Mewtwo. "Your precious crystal can't block the influence of my mind. It may be able to keep you conscious, but you are still as helpless as your friends."

Her friends.... She had to protect them! Something was burning within her, an energy that she'd felt once before. Her body was filled with the power to defend her friends, ready to burst out of her at any moment. The words came to her as if by divine inspiration. "COSMIC MOON POWER!" she shouted, pushing her life energy into the crystal.

The beam of light that shot out of the Silver Crystal startled Sailor Moon nearly as much as it did Mewtwo. Before the armored Pokémon could react, the beam smashed into its shield, sending it flying down the street with a surprised grunt. Sailor Moon dropped to the ground as Mewtwo's concentration broke. Her feet touched down briefly, but her weakened legs gave way and she fell unceremoniously onto her rump. "Ow...."

She felt a strong tug on her arm, and looked up into Jupiter's concerned face. Jupiter's mouth was moving, but she couldn't make out the words at first. Then, a tiny noise broke the silence as her hearing slowly returned. "-ll right? Sailor Moon? Can you hear me?"

She nodded. "I can now."

"Can you stand up?" asked Jupiter. "We've got to get out of here before Mewtwo recovers!"

Sailor Moon got to her feet with Jupiter's help. "What about Venus?"

"I'm fine," Venus groaned from her own position on the ground, sounding not the least bit fine but willing to fake it in the interest of escape.

"So, it appears that I have underestimated your power," said Mewtwo as the three Sailor Scouts gathered. The air grew hazy around the Pokémon as it stepped forward, its armor clanking with each footfall. "Or was it your willingness to fight that I underestimated? Either way, it is plain to see that even your most powerful attack has had no effect on me." It stopped where it was and stretched out its arms in a pose that showed off its unharmed form even as mist circled around it, hiding it from view. "The game is over, Sailor Scouts. It is time – what?" Its 'voice' broke off as the fog thickened, filling the street and covering Mewtwo and the Sailor Scouts in its opaque depths. Sailor Moon grabbed Jupiter and Venus' hands before she lost sight of them as well.

A pair of feet hit the street behind them. "Sorry I'm late," said Sailor Mercury. "Follow my voice, quickly!"

Sailor Moon choked back her exclamation of joy. "We're right behind you, Sailor Mercury!" she said. Mercury's footsteps took off through the fog at a run, and Sailor Moon followed them with the other two girls in tow.

Mewtwo's voice roared in their heads. "WHERE ARE YOU?" it demanded.

Sailor Moon felt a powerful wind cut right between herself and Sailor Venus, tearing their grip apart. "Venus!"

"It's got my leg!" Venus cried out.

"Hang on!" shouted Sailor Moon, grasping blindly in the fog for Venus' hand.

"No!" Venus shot back. "Get out of here before it finds you too!"

Sailor Moon's hand closed around Venus' wrist and immediately felt a strong tug as Venus' arm was nearly pulled from her fingers. She tightened her grip and pulled as hard as she could while Jupiter tugged on her other arm. Much to her surprise, Venus popped free of Mewtwo's grip with a cry of pain and fell to the street. Sailor Moon knelt over her, ignoring the rush of wind past her as Mewtwo continued to reach out blindly. "Venus, are you okay?"

"I think my ankle's twisted," she moaned. "You're gonna have to leave me here."

"I'm not going to leave you behind," said Sailor Moon. She slid her arms under Sailor Venus and picked her up. "If I have to carry you halfway across the city again, I will." Something brushed past her leg as she stood up to run toward the silhouette of Sailor Mercury that was barely visible through the dissipating fog. She jumped at the cold touch and nearly dropped Venus.

"Come on!" Jupiter hissed loudly. "The fog's clearing! It's going to find us!"

"I can cover us for a while longer by using my Bubble Splash again, but Mewtwo would hear the sound and track us," said Mercury.

Sailor Moon hefted Venus and followed the sound of Mercury's voice, weaving slightly to avoid the increasingly frequent blind gropes from Mewtwo. She felt the air shifting behind her and sped up, emerging from the fog right out front of the Crown Arcade. Paying more attention to what was behind her than what was in front of her, she ran right into Sailor Jupiter, who had stopped in the middle of the street. The three girls collapsed in a heap.

Mewtwo hovered above the girls, its arms crossed in a way that suggested impatience bordering on anger. "When you don't know where you are, your thoughts don't betray your positions. But you cannot be blind forever, and what you see, I see."

Sailor Mercury bravely stood in front of Mewtwo and raised her hands. "MERCURY BUBBLES SPLASH!" she shouted, not bothering to hide her power now that she'd been exposed.

The fog thickened again as the bubbles burst, but Mewtwo's amused laughter echoed in the heads of the Sailor Scouts. "This is some kind of game to you, isn't it? You think you can hide from me?"

Mercury leapt aside on pure reflex, feeling the skin of her left upper arm burn as Mewtwo's attack grazed her. That was no attempt at telekinesis; Mewtwo was going for the kill now. Another bright blue flash gave Mercury barely enough time to throw herself to the ground as another beam of psychic energy tore through the air where her head had been, scattering the water vapor in its path.

Sailor Moon shrieked in the distance as one of the missed attacks nearly hit her, and Mewtwo's attacks began to fly in that direction, splitting the air with wide blue beams. It didn't take long for Sailor Moon to figure out that she needed to keep quiet, but she had to perform some fancy acrobatic maneuvers to duck and dodge the increasingly accurate blasts. Her grip on Sailor Venus loosened, and the other girl slipped from her arms and rolled to safety.

Mewtwo's form was easily visible now in the middle of a large hole in the fog cover, and the rest of the fog was thinning from the repeated psychic attacks that were stirring up the air. Mercury edged toward Sailor Moon, keeping as quiet as possible and trying not to think about where she was in relation to any landmarks that would give Mewtwo a clear picture of her location. Her foot hit something soft, and she bent down to see what it was. It rose to meet her halfway, and she found herself peering into Venus' face through the dense ground-level mist. She motioned for Venus to move toward Sailor Moon, and the two of them crawled toward the dim shadow that was the target of Mewtwo's attacks.

As they approached Sailor Moon's location, a large shadow loomed to their left. Mercury turned, hoping that she'd found Sailor Jupiter, but the shadow was far too large to be human. "Hello again," Mewtwo said casually. "It's time for you to die now."

Sailor Mercury's heart leapt into her throat as the blue light emanating from Mewtwo's body intensified until it formed a corona. Her hair stood on end as Mewtwo's energy continued to increase, building to an undoubtedly fatal attack. There was no way to escape, but standing still was suicide. "Run, everyone!" she shouted, spinning around to search for a direction to flee. The corner of a brick building stood out in the fog, and she ran toward it, praying that the others would be able to get away while she kept Mewtwo busy.

Two sets of running footsteps feel into synch with Mercury's, dashing her hopes to pieces. Sailor Moon and Sailor Jupiter were following her, and the sound of a third, erratic gait behind them signaled Venus' best attempt to keep up. "I wanted you all to split up!" shouted Mercury. "Mewtwo is going to kill all of us!"

"That doesn't matter!" Sailor Moon shouted back. "Splitting up nearly got us all killed before. This time, we stick together!"

The fog thinned as they neared the corner that Mercury had seen before, revealing a second corner just to its right. They were running into an alley. But as the water vapor all around them took on the blue glow of Mewtwo's aura, they knew that it was too late to turn back. Death would claim them if they missed even a single step.

The sound of their footsteps seemed to echo from all directions as they passed through the mouth of the alley, and the smell of rotting garbage assaulted them from the shadowed corners. But the sensations were distant, like they were coming from another world. The far wall appeared through a haze even though Mercury's fog hadn't reached the alley. "Iitt'ss aa ddeeaadd eenndd!" she shouted, only now beginning to feel her body slowing down.

"Ccaann yyoouu ffeeeell tthhaatt?" asked Jupiter. "Iitt'ss tthhaatt ttiimmee ddiissttoorrttiioonn aaggaaiinn, jjuusstt lliikkee llaasstt nniigghhtt!"

Mercury turned to look over her shoulder and see how the time distortion was affecting Mewtwo, but her head was as slow to respond as her mouth was. She had barely brought Mewtwo into her peripheral vision before the cracks began to appear. They quickly spiderwebbed throughout the sky, casting the world into a mosaic of colored shreds. Chills ran through Mercury's body as she brushed against the non-space between space, and parts of her body randomly went numb as the space they occupied was torn apart.

The Pokémon hovered at the mouth of the alley, completely hidden within its blue glow. "I do not like this sensation," it announced. "I will finish you quickly, and leave this world."

"Hhee'ss nnoott sslloowweedd ddoowwnn?" Sailor Moon observed.

The energy gathered into a giant ball in Mewtwo's hands. "Psychic attack."

"Nnoott iiff Ii ccaann hheellpp iitt!" shouted a determined voice to Mewtwo's right.

Mewtwo slowly turned its head to face its new opponent, but even before it could bring her into view, a picture had formed in its mind. She had long dark hair and wore a sailor uniform with a red skirt. "Another Sailor Scout? Impossible!"

Sailor Mars drew a spirit ward from her clothing and held it between two fingers. "Ii ccaallll uuppoonn tthhee ppoowweerr ooff Mmaarrss!" she chanted, and the limp paper became a flat, rigid sheet. She drew her arm back and hurled the ward at Mewtwo with all of her might. The paper spiraled through the air as if guided by a divine hand, navigating its way between the cracks on its route to Mewtwo. As Mewtwo watched, the ward sailed easily through Mewtwo's energy shield where one of the cracks had split it open, proceeding unimpeded until it struck a patch of bare pink fur above the armor on Mewtwo's right arm and burst into flame on contact.

All at once, the world turned upside down. The blue light winked out instantaneously as Mewtwo fell to the ground, clawing at the burning paper on its shoulder with stubby metal fingers that couldn't grasp it. As the last of the light vanished, the universe collapsed into one piece again with a thunderous clap that slowly became a high-pitched squeal.

While the other Sailor Scouts ran from the alley to meet Sailor Mars, Mercury waited behind, listening to the sound. "Its scream is audible, not telepathic," she remarked. But what interested her about the situation wasn't the scream. Sailor Mars' spirit ward was a solid object, yet it had passed through Mewtwo's energy barrier using the breach created by the cracks in space. Whatever those cracks were, they set Mercury's spine on edge; she had no intention of trying to recreate them even if it could lead to their foe's defeat. But the technique she'd read about in the old Mercury's journal had done exactly that, effectively – it created a breach in a barrier which a solid object could pass through. And now that Sailor Mars was with them, they could perform the technique... but how could they use it to their advantage without falling victim to the weaknesses noted in the journal? There had to be some simple element that she was overlooking which would bring all of the pieces together....

Meanwhile, the other Sailor Scouts were examining every inch of Sailor Mars' body in disbelief, having exhausted the necessary quota of congratulatory grateful hugs. "Not even a scratch!" Sailor Venus exclaimed. "How did it happen?"

"I don't know," Sailor Mars replied. "I thought I was dead, and then I woke up totally healed." She glanced uneasily at Mewtwo. "Are you sure it's a good idea to stand right next to that guy? I don't know how long the ward will hold him."

"Sailor Mercury will be out here any second," Sailor Moon said confidently. "We're not leaving her behind again."

At that moment, Mercury did indeed emerge from the alley, calling out excitedly. "Sailor Moon! Your tiara! That's the key element that was missing all along!"

"Missing element?" repeated Sailor Moon. "I don't get it. Is this one of those brainy things I'm not supposed to understand?"

Mercury stopped right in front of the others. "Sailor Moon didn't exist during the Silver Millennium. That's why Sailor Mercury never found the solution she was looking for. But we have everything we need to beat Mewtwo right here!"

"I understood that last part," said Jupiter, clenching her fists eagerly. "What do we do?"

"Sailor Moon, use your Tiara Magic, but don't throw it just yet," instructed Mercury. "Everyone else, gather around her and follow my lead."

Sailor Moon nodded and removed her tiara. It became a discus that floated just above her hand. "Now what?" she asked.

"Hold it over your head," said Mercury.

Mewtwo's body jerked suddenly. "I... WILL... KILL... YOU!" Its stubby fingers finally managed to grasp the burning spirit ward, and it peeled the paper away. The ward burned up completely, leaving not even ash behind.

"Whatever you're planning, Mercury," said Jupiter, "you'd better do it quickly!"

Mercury swallowed nervously. She'd hoped for a bit more time to prepare the attack, but now everything rested upon Mewtwo being stunned for long enough. She closed her eyes and concentrated on her Planet Power, praying that her hastily conceived plan would work.

She felt the power surging through her and knew that the time was right. "Here we go!" she shouted. She raised her hands and pointed her palms at Sailor Moon's tiara. "By the power of Mercury!" she shouted. A stream of water gushed from her hands toward the discus, wrapping it in a bubble. 'Yes!' she thought to herself. 'It's working!'

Jupiter was the first one to understand. "By the power of Jupiter!" she shouted, extending her hands toward the discus. Lightning shot from her palms into the bubble of water, where it became a crackling mesh of sparks.

Next, Mars raised her arms. "By the power of Mars!" Plumes of flame leapt from her palms and collected into a fireball in the center of the bubble. The fire continued to burn on the surface of the discus, heedless of the aquatic environment.

Finally, it was Venus' turn. "By the power of Venus!" Pure love energy poured from her hands and flowed around and through the violent mixture of elements surrounding the discus, blanketing the entire concoction in its warm glow.

"And by the power of the Moon," finished Sailor Moon. The four elemental energies swirled together into a homogenous white light that was blindingly bright, yet not painful to look at. "Let our combined powers strike down our enemies!" she chanted, winding up to throw the powered up projectile. "SAILOR SCOUTS COMBINED TIARA MAGIC!"

Mewtwo stood up to face the tiara as it approached. "Useless." The blue lights flared in its visor, and the tiara spun off to the side, missing Mewtwo by half the width of the street.

"No!" cried Mercury. "We were so close!"

Sailor Moon screwed her eyes shut and focused all her thoughts on the errant attack, willing it to turn around and strike Mewtwo from behind. The discus circled through the air like a boomerang and reoriented itself on its target. Mewtwo flew up out of its path, and the discus barely missed taking off Sailor Mars' ear as it sailed right through the ranks of the Sailor Scouts.

"So, it's a battle of wills you want?" asked Mewtwo. "That is a fight that I WILL win." It laughed at its own joke even as its eyes glowed and it sent the discus off course again.

"Come on, guys, help me!" pleaded Sailor Moon through clenched teeth. "Your energy's in it too! If we all work together, we can beat Mewtwo at its own game!"

"What are you talking about?" hissed Venus as she dodged another attempt by Mewtwo to destroy the Sailor Scouts with their own attack.

Mercury picked up Sailor Moon's meaning immediately. "Everyone, concentrate on the tiara," she commanded. "Use your mind to move it like Sailor Moon does!" Without waiting to see if the others understood, she concentrated on the energy that she'd put into the attack and felt it circling overhead. She closed her eyes and let an image form in her mind, seeing the discus as clearly as if she was looking at it. She could feel the life within the tiara as well as her own energy in the water, and she knew that Sailor Moon was giving it everything she had.

Mercury did her best to steer the discus, but it continued on its own course despite her efforts. The most she managed to do was make it wobble a bit in flight as it curved through the sky and shot downward to attack the Sailor Scouts again. Mercury's reflexes warned her to move, but every ounce of her strength was devoted to the mental battle. Then, the discus took a sharp dip in mid-dive, and she could feel that Sailor Jupiter was working with her. Mars and Venus joined simultaneously shortly after that. As one, the five minds grasped the tiara and halted it millimeters from Sailor Moon's nose, then sent it spinning back toward Mewtwo.

Mewtwo's blue aura filled the entire sky as it poured everything it had into stopping the approaching tiara. It sank slowly to the ground, then fell to its knees as beads of sweat began to appear on every inch of exposed skin, rapidly evaporating in the heat of Mewtwo's exertion. Still the tiara continued to advance, until Mewtwo had to throw itself aside to dodge. "So, you think you can overpower me if you work together?" it asked as it stood up. "Well, think again! I can still read your minds, and I know every move you plan to make!" It leapt aside as the tiara sliced through the air where it had been, then teleported to the far side of the group of Sailor Scouts, placing them directly in the tiara's path. The discus arced easily over the Sailor Scouts and homed in on Mewtwo again, forcing it into the sky.

"This cannot go on," said Mewtwo, panting with exertion. "Forget these silly mind games. I have my own path to victory!" It clenched its fists, and the Sailor Scouts rose into the air toward Mewtwo. Their concentration broke as their bodies were twisted into agonizing positions. "Now, scream for me!" commanded Mewtwo. "Scream before you die!"

"Never!" shouted Sailor Moon. She held the Crescent Moon Wand in front of her body like a shield.

Mewtwo laughed. "That little toy? You know it has no power over me!"

"A distraction," whispered Sailor Moon as the tiara buried itself in the armor protecting Mewtwo's chest. "I guess you can't concentrate on so many things at once."

Sparks arced across Mewtwo's entire body, and the Pokémon screamed in pain as it fell to the ground, letting the Sailor Scouts fall as well. They all stood up to admire Sailor Moon's handiwork. "You did it!" Venus congratulated her.

"That was amazing!" agreed Jupiter. "I thought we were goners for sure!"

"Don't celebrate yet, everyone," warned Mars. "It might not be finished just yet."

Indeed, Mewtwo's screaming ended quickly as the sparks died. Mewtwo stood up, its chestplate and backplate dropping to the ground as it righted itself. The gloves and boots split apart and fell off as well, and Mewtwo reached up with its misshapen hands to remove the helmet from its head. What stood before them now, unclothed, was a gaunt yet powerful-looking beast with softly glowing lavender fur. Its long arms and squat legs terminated in triads of digits that were as round as golf balls, and appeared useless for grasping. The tail that protruded from its back attached to the rear of its catlike head. Its face was flat and triangular, with a tiny mouth and eyes that held all the intelligence that they knew Mewtwo to possess.

Mewtwo raised its arms and examined its hands as if seeing them for the first time. "My armor... destroyed. I had forgotten this feeling. I had forgotten what it felt like... to be free."

The Sailor Scouts watched as Mewtwo flexed its muscles and tested its body's capabilities without the armor. "It seems to have forgotten about us," observed Mercury.

"Maybe that armor was controlling him," said Venus. "Now that we've gotten rid of the armor, it's probably not our enemy anymore."

"The Mercury Computer did say that the armor was restrictive," Mercury recalled.

Sailor Moon cleared her throat and bravely stepped forward. "Um, Mewtwo...?"

Mewtwo raised its head to look at her. "You destroyed my armor," it said matter-of-factly.

"Yes, that's right," replied Sailor Moon. "Is that bad?"

"No, no," said Mewtwo. "I'm actually quite grateful."

Sailor Moon heaved a sigh of relief. "I'm so glad...."

Mewtwo raised its hand and sent Sailor Moon flying into the sky. "Now I remember why the humans put me in that armor. They were afraid of my awesome power!"

Venus and Jupiter scrambled to catch Sailor Moon as she plummeted back to the ground. "I changed my mind!" shouted Venus. "It's not friendly at all!"

Mewtwo's entire body emitted the familiar blue glow as all five Sailor Scouts rose into the air. Sailor Moon reached for the nearest hands, but the girls were torn from each others' grip and flung in opposite directions, forming a wide circle around Mewtwo. "Ah, ah, ah," it mocked them. "I'm afraid I can't let you use your combined attack again."

"Why are you doing this?" shouted Sailor Moon. "You're free! You don't have to kill us!"

"Oh, but I do," replied Mewtwo. "It was humans who built that armor and made me wear it. It was humans who hid me in a cage and used my powers as they saw fit. It is humans who even now fancy themselves the owners of the world, even going so far as to silence the very power that they created which could rise above them and destroy them all!"

The Sailor Scouts stared in muted horror as the Pokémon issued its ultimatum.

"I finally understand my destiny," announced Mewtwo. "This is the power that was created to rule the world! The humans who sought to control me will die, all of them... and those before me shall be the first!" It held its paws in front of its body, fingers pointed inwards, and a giant ball of blue light formed between them. At once, the universe split apart again, but Mewtwo ignored the instability and stared straight into the eyes of Sailor Moon, who was directly in front of it. "I thank you from the bottom of my heart for freeing me from my prison," said Mewtwo, without the slightest hint of gratitude. "I promise that your deaths will be swift."

  



	16. 15: Strangers in a Familiar Place

A General Time Paradox

Chapter 15: Strangers in a Familiar Place

It just wasn't fair.

It would have been fine by Ranma if this world was totally different from his own - after all, who would have expected two completely separate worlds to have anything in common? He still held out hopes that, when this whole Sailor Scout mess was taken care of (and how could Mewtwo possibly fail, said Lina), he'd be able to return to his own world and everything would return to normal. It would be just another event in his life, like the pit of cats, the battle with Pantyhose Taro, the period when he'd been trapped in his cursed form.... Sure, he REMEMBERED them all, but they were all just parts of the past. Although the pit had had some lasting effects....

Likewise, it would have been an extremely pleasant surprise to find that this world was the same as his own. If he were to find Ukyo, Ryoga, Shampoo, the Tendo family, and even his various enemies living in this world, it would have meant an even sooner return to normalcy, which was far from the worst fate imaginable. Not even the prospect of bumping into an exact twin of himself - possibly accompanied by a duplicate Akane - could make him feel any less at home in such a situation. Heck, he'd welcome any help they could lend him in defeating the Sailor Scouts and returning to his own world.

But this... what he'd found sickened him, even though there was really nothing wrong with it at all. The world of the Sailor Scouts did indeed have a Nerima district; and what was more, all of the familiar landmarks were in the same places as those in Ranma's world. However, they were only tantalizingly similar enough to remind him of home without being at all comforting.

The first stop had been Ucchan's restaurant, where he'd been planning to stop for an okonomiyaki, if the place existed. The small food stand was there, but the banner read "Yamashita Ice Cream". Ranma had sighed sadly at the sight, which had been all the confirmation he'd needed that none of his friends would exist in this world. He didn't know why he'd even bothered to keep looking, but it was comforting to blame his own stubborn streak for refusing to believe that any Nerima could exist without at least one person or place he recognized.

His next stop had been the Tendo Dojo of Anything-Goes Martial Arts, which was now the proud home of the Terada Dojo of Advanced-Level Judo. From what little he could see over the wall, the house itself was exactly the same as he remembered, but the dojo building had some rather ornate carvings at the edges of the roof, and occupied more than half of the backyard. No more koi pond to get dunked in every morning if he lived there... and, judging by the fact that this family apparently had enough income to warrant a larger, well-constructed dojo, probably a long succession of noisy students practicing at all hours. He could only imagine what Akane would think of that. Enough people to test her skills against that she wouldn't have to keep comparing herself to him... might be just what she needed to loosen up a bit.

The Cat Café was still serving ramen, but its name was now "Sunflower Ramen" and the older girl acting as the restaurant's greeter was distinctly Japanese. She had bowed slightly to him as he approached the restaurant front, but he hadn't planned to go in. The ramen experience just wouldn't be the same when there was no fighting going on in the restaurant and the proprietor wasn't plotting another random scheme to make him marry her great-granddaughter. He'd noticed a newspaper box out front of the restaurant and had peered through the glass at the front page. Not surprisingly, it had prominently featured a blurry picture of the Sailor Scouts fighting Kusanagi, taken from the video camera mounted on a nearby ATM.

At first glance, Furinkan High School hadn't changed much. Even the nameplate still read "Furinkan" under the coating of spray paint. But the gates were closed and locked, since school was out for the day, and there were no statues of the principal visible on the grounds. Ranma was willing to bet that he wouldn't find a single coconut anywhere on the property, either. Of course, he hadn't dared to climb over the gate to see - even if they weren't crazy freaks from Hawaii, principals could still be dangerous people to cross. Instead, he'd passed quickly by and proceeded to the nearby site of Dr. Tofu's clinic, which housed a massage parlor in this world. That wasn't too great a stretch, given the doctor's intimate knowledge of pressure point techniques.

He'd even gone as far as the Kuno mansion, which, now that he had a reason to notice, was rather close to the Juuban district. The mansion still stood, in all its splendor, but the grounds didn't look very well tended. An elderly woman (who, oddly enough, wasn't washing her sidewalk) had told him that the mansion had belonged to millionaire playboy Maxfield Stanton until his mysterious disappearance a few months earlier. That news had left Ranma scratching his head. Was it possible that the disappearance had something to do with the house itself? And more importantly, might it also happen at the parallel location in his own world? Probably not. That would just be TOO convenient.

And so it was a thoroughly disillusioned Ranma who aimlessly wandered the streets of Nerima, staring at the buildings that he knew so well even though not a one of them was the same. The barbershop was a flower shop, the toy shop was a candy shop, the McDonald's was a Taco Bell.... It was like a ghost town, despite the many people he saw in the streets and stores. It was Nerima, but it wasn't Nerima.

"Hey," said Lina's voice from over his shoulder. "What are you doing way out here?"

He sighed. "Just looking around."

"You said you were going out to eat," Lina reminded him.

"I wasn't hungry," replied Ranma. "I was just checking out the old neighborhood."

Lina stared at him curiously for a few seconds, until she realized what he meant. "Oh! This is where you live, in your world?"

He nodded. "Yes and no. I live here... but this place isn't where I live." He looked up at her for the first time and was surprised to see her wearing her Grass Valley Junior High uniform. Of course, it was obvious why she was wearing it - she couldn't very well walk the streets of Tokyo in her full sorceress garb - but it was his first time getting a good look at it. He hadn't paid much attention to it when he'd seen it before, in the gym at Crossroads, since there she'd been just another face in a sea of girls all wearing exactly the same uniform. But now that she was standing right in front of him, he couldn't help noticing that she looked very good in it. There was something about school uniforms that worked to the advantage of a girl without much in the chest area.

With a start, he realized that she was growing uncomfortable under his stare, and quickly picked up the conversation where he'd left it. "So, what about you? Where do you live in your world?"

"I don't really have a home," she replied. "I wander from place to place in search of treasure."

"Oh, right. So you said before."

Lina swept her arm in a grand gesture that took in not only the local scenery, but the tall structures in the distance as well. "This Tokyo place... there's nothing like it in my world. Buildings as tall as the ones they have around here are all centers of magic, and there's rarely more than one in any city. They're always either the home of a powerful monster, or a tower built by someone who desperately needed to show off and had plenty of money and magic to spare. They always go eccentric and end up filling the place with traps and sticking a treasure at the end of it that's never worth the trouble of getting it."

"Sounds like you've been to a lot of them," noted Ranma.

Lina shrugged. "It's what I do." She looked up at the Taco Bell that they were standing in front of. "Are you sure you don't want to eat something?"

It took Ranma a few seconds to realize that she didn't intend to eat WITH him... or did she? With girls, he could never tell. In truth, he was getting a bit hungry, but he had to take the safe option. "I'm fine. We should get back to the Negaverse and wait to see what happens with Mewtwo."

Lina seemed disappointed at his answer, but he could have been imagining it. "All right." She waved her arm and opened a portal, and they stepped through before anyone could notice it. The now-familiar darkness of the Negaverse swallowed them as the portal closed. They'd become so used to the setting by now that it no longer depressed them, but Ranma was still grateful to have Lina nearby. He could only imagine what it had been like waiting there while he explored Nerima at his leisure. "Did Ryoko get back yet?" he asked her.

"Not as far as I know," she replied. "Not that the Negaverse is short of places to hide. She could have gotten back before we did, and I wouldn't know."

Something in her voice made Ranma think that she was irritated, most likely as a result of his question. But why would that be? Maybe she was still out of sorts after being dead.... Oh, right. There was a question he'd been supposed to ask before asking about Ryoko. "So, how are you feeling?"

That relieved the mood a bit. "I'm feeling a lot better after Sailor Moon fixed me up. As you noticed, I can hold the disguise spell." She chanted under her breath, and the school uniform dissolved into her usual outfit. "I honestly think my magic's completely back to normal."

"So you can throw fireballs and fly without killing yourself again?"

She nodded. "I tried a few spells over in the practice area. Even the Dragon Slave didn't hurt a bit when I cast it. I'd call that a pretty good indication that I'm okay."

"Might want to keep it quiet, though," advised Ranma. "If Beryl finds out that we're both in fighting form, we might have to go out there again."

Lina nodded morosely.

It seemed like as good a time as any to bring up his new idea. "I was thinking about something while I was walking around Nerima," said Ranma. "You and Ryoko and the other girl can all fly wherever you want, but I've gotta be carried everywhere."

Lina stated at him as if wondering whether he'd lost his mind. "You want me to try to teach you how to fly?"

"It would make things easier for you and Ryoko," he pointed out. "It can't really be that hard, can it?"

Lina sighed. "Sure, it's pretty simple as far as spells go, but learning to use magic period is a long and difficult process. Besides, you don't have a link to the monsters of my world. There's no way you could tap into their power."

"What about using my own power?" he suggested. "Didn't you say you could do that?"

"Sure, if you don't mind puking up blood," she replied. "Magic takes a lot more energy than you think. It'll tear your insides to shreds if you throw yourself at it too hard."

"Hey, I can control my energy," Ranma boasted. "Haven't you seen how much energy goes into the Moko Takabisha? And that barely tires me out anymore."

"But that's a blast of pure energy," Lina pointed out. "It's a one-to-one ratio. With magic, you're trying to use that energy to shape the world in ways that defy the laws of physics. That takes a lot more power and a lot more concentration. Even some of the most powerful sorcerers in the world can't cast anything bigger than a Mini Flare without tapping the monster realm for power."

"So how do you do that?" asked Ranma.

Lina shook her head emphatically. "Don't get involved with it, Ranma. Even if there is a way for you to tap into the power of monsters, don't try it. I've been down that road, and it's not a road you want to travel."

"I've never backed away from a challenge," stated Ranma.

"Back away from this one!" Lina snapped. "Didn't what I told you before sink in at all? I pray to the lords of darkness for power, Ranma! Is that really how you want to live?"

"It's only flying..." Ranma began.

"Just drop it," Lina warned, cutting him off. "I'm not going to let you soil yourself with dark power. You don't want to share my fate."

"What fate?" asked Ranma.

Lina's eyes darted to the ground in discomfort, but before she could explain, a hole opened a few feet from them, and Ryoko fell through it and landed on her stomach, groaning in pain. Her body was so blackened from head to toe that only her tail and spiked hair served to distinguish her from their other partner.

Ranma and Lina ran to her side. "Are you okay?" asked Ranma.

"Oh, sure," mumbled Ryoko. "I think I probably have about two minutes left to live. Just peachy."

"We've gotta help her!" Ranma said urgently. "Don't you know any healing magic?"

"A bit," Lina replied apologetically. "Enough for healing cuts and scrapes, mainly. I can't cure something like this."

"Don't worry about me," Ryoko said weakly. "I won't die from something like this. It just hurts more than getting zapped usually does...." She rolled over onto her back, wincing with each motion.

"I can heal her," said a deep voice from the darkness. Ranma squinted until he was able to make out the almost invisible outline that separated the girl in black's form from the rest of the darkness. She knelt beside Ryoko and placed her hands on the space pirate's chest. Within seconds, Ryoko's entire body began to emit a bright glow, and moments later, the glow faded, leaving Ryoko completely healed.

Ryoko sat bolt upright as soon as the hands left her. "Whoa... that's it?"

"Do you feel better, Ryoko?" asked Lina.

Ryoko flexed her fists, then patted herself in a few random places. "If I didn't know any better, I'd swear I'd never been hurt at all."

Ranma looked up at the girl in black and slowly nodded, impressed. "You seem to have quite a number of talents you haven't shown us yet," he noted.

Ryoko growled, preventing the girl from replying, if she had had any intention of doing so. "All right!" she shouted, leaping into the air to hover a few inches above the ground. "I'm going back out there to teach that bitch Jupiter a lesson!"

"I wouldn't," warned Lina. "Mewtwo's out there right now, probably dealing with all of the Sailor Scouts at once. We'd just get in the way."

"Nuts to that!" said Ryoko. "I want a piece of that action!" She opened a portal and lunged toward it.

"Idiot," said the girl in black, halting Ryoko in mid-flight. "You underestimate them."

"What are you talking about?" asked Ryoko.

"It's part of their power," explained the girl in black. "You don't think their ridiculous costumes actually help them fight, do you? The revealing clothes; naked transformations; long, flashy attacks... even the fact that all of the Sailor Scouts are female. They may seem like weaknesses, but they are all merely distractions designed to disguise the true strength of the Sailor Scouts. Their enemies all underestimate them, allowing the Sailor Scouts to seize the initiative and surprise their opponents with their full power."

"I've never considered being female a weakness," said Lina.

"I believe your words on the subject were 'They're just a bunch of girls with wimpy powers that even Sylphiel would laugh at. How could I possibly lose to them?'" the girl countered, in a tone that made the smile on her face quite evident.

"You're awfully talkative today," remarked Ryoko.

The girl in black fell characteristically silent.

When it was obvious that no response was forthcoming, Ryoko groaned and let the portal close and sat down in the air with her arms crossed. "Fine. Then I won't kill the Sailor Scouts. So what am I supposed to do for fun?"

Lina nudged Ranma. "Hey, maybe SHE can teach you how to fly!"

Ryoko's ears perked up. "Who can teach what now?"

"Well, look at yourself," said Lina. "You make flying look so natural."

"For me, it is," Ryoko replied with a slight shrug. "I just shift most of my body mass into the other dimension, where there's no gravity and I can move around just by thinking about it. I can go up, down, through walls, whatever. But the only way anyone else can do it is if I phase them out myself."

"Well, how did you learn to do it?" asked Ranma.

"I've always been able to," said Ryoko. "It's like breathing. I don't think about it. I just do it."

"I know how Ranma can fly," said the girl in black.

Ryoko turned to stare at the girl once again. "What CAN'T you do?"

The girl in black fell eerily silent at that, giving Ryoko the verbal equivalent of an angry glare. After what she felt was a sufficiently long pause, she stepped around Ryoko and stood in front of Ranma. "Do you want me to tell you how you can fly?"

"Do you even have to ask?" Ranma cracked his knuckles and bowed slightly. "So, what do I do?"

"It's a rather simple process, but it will not be easy," said the girl in black.

"I'm ready," Ranma said determinedly.

Lina and Ryoko watched with interest, curious to know how Ranma could fly without magic or access to another dimension.

"Very well," said the girl in black. "Gather your energy."

Ranma smirked. "Sounds easy so far." He concentrated, and an aura of light surrounded his body, illuminating everything within sight except the girl in black herself. Even the floor was visible as a swirl of dull colors in the brilliant light of Ranma's life energy.

The girl shook her head. "No, that's not it. You need to gather it in one place. It won't do you any good if the energy simply fills your entire body."

"Oh, gotcha. You mean my Moko Takabisha." The light faded in an instant, only to return in the form of a large ball in Ranma's hands.

"Better," agreed the girl. "Now, try it without using your hands."

The light vanished. "What do you mean, without my hands?" asked Ranma. "How else am I supposed to hold it?"

"The very fact that you have to ask that question proves that you lack the necessary control over your energy," she replied. "Using your hands is a mental crutch. Until you do away with it, you won't be able to take the next step."

Ranma dropped his hands to his sides and concentrated again. His body glowed dimly, but the ball of light didn't form. "You're really asking a lot, you know that?"

"I told you it wouldn't be easy," said the girl. She crossed her arms behind her back and, with no further visible effort, created a ball of dark energy in front of her chest almost twice as large as the one Ranma had made. Even the girl's body seemed distinctly luminous compared to the light-swallowing darkness of her life energy. "That's all there is to it. You'll just have to practice until you figure it out." The dark energy vanished, blinding the others as its disappearance left what seemed like a bright flash. "Let me know when you've learned that much." She turned around to leave, but Ranma grabbed her shoulder.

"Hey! I want to know the rest! I made that mistake with the Hiryu Shoten Ha, but I'm not finishing this technique blind."

She turned back with the air of a smile. "Very well. The rest is a simple step. Once you can focus your energy without using your hands, you'll be able to gather it to any point in proximity to your body. The key is to make it take the form of a disc beneath your feet. Then, move the disc upward, and you'll be carried with it."

Ranma rubbed his head. "Sounds complicated."

"You'll get used to it quickly," the girl assured him. "After that, it will be as natural as walking, if perhaps a bit more tiring. But judging from what I saw of it, you have more than enough energy."

"Don't worry," Ranma assured her. "I'll get this flying thing down, and I'll be flying circles around you in no time."

"Don't waste all your energy trying," she warned him good-naturedly. "Remember, you have a date with Sailor Mercury tonight."

"That's only if the Sailor Scouts can beat Mewtwo," he reminded her.

"Oh, I'm sure they will," she replied with a smile. "They're not out of tricks yet." She vanished, leaving the other two women staring at Ranma.

"Let me get this straight," Ryoko said at last. "We're supposed to be killing them, but you're going OUT with one of them?"

Ranma rolled his eyes. "So that I can kill her. We're not going out to dinner and a movie."

"I don't know," mused Lina. "Sounds like that could be fun. And cheap, too. Just get her to pay for everything, since she'll be dead at the end of the night anyway."

"Ha ha," Ranma said sarcastically. "Very funny." He took a deep breath and began to strain with the effort of attempting to create a ball of life energy without using his hands.

Ryoko shrugged and squinted at the air in front of her. A tiny ball of red light flared into existence a few inches from her chest. "Whew, this IS hard," she agreed. The ball grew to the size of Ranma's Moko Takabisha, then floated down to the ground and became a disc under her feet. "Don't know how long I can keep this up," she said as she rose a foot into the air. The disc vanished, and she wiped the sweat from her forehead. "I'm glad I don't have to do it that way all the time!"

Ranma groaned. "Man, even SHE can do it. What am I doing wrong? What's wrong with me?"

"Nothing's wrong," Lina assured him, patting his shoulder. "You just need to practice more."

He sighed. "I WILL figure this out."

"I'm sure you will," she agreed. "Just give it time. You know, I think there's a lot more to that girl than we thought."

"That girl?" repeated Ranma, who was paying less attention to Lina than he was to his efforts to create a ball of energy.

"You know, shadow-girl," Lina clarified. "The one who's teaching you to fly."

"Oh, right." He stopped for another breather. "She seems nice enough."

"Yeah, but she FEELS evil," said Lina. "I don't know. Something about her really bothers me."

Ryoko floated just over Lina's head. "I think she likes Ranma," she whispered.

Lina planted a fist in Ryoko's jaw. "I didn't ask your opinion," she hissed.

Ryoko rubbed her bruised cheek and glared at Lina. "Remind me next time that you can't take a joke." She vanished in a thick puff of smoke.

"I've got an idea," Ranma announced. He held his hands out and let his energy collect in front of his palms, then quickly dropped his arms to his sides and let the ball float there. "Maybe this will -" The light exploded, throwing both Ranma and Lina to the ground.

Ranma coughed out a mouthful of the soot that covered him from head to toe. "Then again, maybe it won't."

"I think you're just trying too hard, Ranma," Lina advised him. "You need to stop worrying about it so much and relax. It'll come to you."

"Nothing ever comes through laziness," Ranma told her as if quoting it from somewhere.

"And nothing comes from overexertion either," countered Lina. "Look, just take a break for now. Come have lunch with me, and maybe you'll get an idea in the meantime."

This time, it was unmistakably an invitation. "Are you asking me out?" asked Ranma, not sure if he could believe his ears.

"I'm just worried about you is all," she replied. "You're going to burn yourself out that way."

"Oh." He wasn't sure whether he should be disappointed or relieved. On the one hand, he didn't want to be saddled with yet another girl competing for his hand in marriage. On the other, Lina was certainly at the top of his list of girls he wouldn't mind having join the ranks of his fiancées. And once they were finished with the Sailor Scouts, they'd be going back to their own worlds anyway, never to meet again. No sense throwing away what little time they had together. "Sure," he agreed. "I think I might be able to eat something after all. Just as long as we go someplace other than Nerima."

Lina smiled. "Don't worry. I know just the place."

*************************************************

Sailor Moon could barely force her eyes open as the blue light in Mewtwo's paws filled her vision, blinding her. Yet even through slitted eyelids, she could see the light break into fragments as the universe began to wind down to a halt once again, torn apart by the thousands of cracks that seemed to appear whenever a powerful enemy attacked her and her friends. She wondered once again what could be causing it, but didn't waste much brainpower on it. After all, she wasn't going to live long enough to do anything about it anyway. Her life was already flashing before her eyes. 'Wow,' she thought to herself. 'I really was a klutz, wasn't I?'

The blue ball of death shrank until it could no longer be seen, at which point the cracks closed up. "Interesting," said Mewtwo. "It appears that this time anomaly is linked to my Psychic attack."

"It happened once before," Mercury said from behind Mewtwo. "And there was no buildup of energy then."

Mewtwo turned to face her. "You do not need to tell me that. Yet I detect some concern on your part. Admittedly, I do not like the feel of it, but why does it matter to you?"

Mercury did her best not to let her fear show. As long as Mewtwo was willing to listen, she might as well take advantage of the opportunity. "I'm worried about the stability of our world," she explained. "It felt as if the entire world were about to come apart at once. And if our world is endangered by our fighting, you're in as much danger as we are."

"Ah," said Mewtwo. "You are trying to dissuade me from killing you. A noble effort, if perhaps a cowardly one. But you must face your death now. If I cannot use the Psychic attack to destroy you quickly, then I must simply use a more painful method."

"Wait!" protested Mercury. Before she could get another word out, Mewtwo pointed a stubby finger at her, and she flew backward, almost immediately feeling the impact with a flat, unyielding surface. There was a sharp CRACK! and stars filled her vision as her head bounced off the wall behind her.

"You have nothing to say to me," Mewtwo informed her disdainfully, its voice the only thing clear to her muddled senses. "Your stalling ends here." A blue glow surrounded Mewtwo's body, and the other Sailor Scouts began to move as well. Mars and Venus slammed into each other sideways, Jupiter hit the ground face first, and Sailor Moon remained in place at the center of a storm of psychic punches. Mercury left an indentation in the wall as she was pried away to join the other Scouts in uncontrollably bouncing off walls, the ground, and each other as Mewtwo led them through a fandango of pain.

Sailor Moon crossed her arms over her face to protect it, but the blows still landed in spite of her defense. All she could do was tighten her muscles and take the pounding, her already bruised body weakening even further with every attack. But she knew that she couldn't last very long that way. As futile as her position seemed, she had to find a way to fight back. Her hand rose to her forehead, where her fingers clamped on her tiara.

"That again?" Mewtwo asked dubiously. "Why bother? You know it will have no effect on me."

She pushed her energy into the tiara, ignoring Mewtwo's skeptical remarks. "MOON TIARA MAGIC!" she shouted, throwing the projectile at Mewtwo as hard as she could. The tiara bounced harmlessly off Mewtwo's shield with no visible effect. However, the severe beating paused briefly at that moment, only to resume as soon as the spent tiara hit the ground. It wasn't even long enough to take a breath, but it was a blissful reprieve while it lasted.

Sailor Moon wasn't the only one to notice the lapse, however. Sailor Mercury also felt a slight hesitation in her flight as the tiara failed to strike its target. It didn't take her long to realize what that meant - Mewtwo could still be distracted, if only for a second. That revelation alone wasn't going to be nearly enough to save them, but it was a start - and by now, Mewtwo was undoubtedly fully aware that she'd uncovered the weakness. And if the secret was out, the only option was to go for it and hope it bought her enough time to think of something to follow up with. "Everyone!" she shouted, pausing as a collision with Sailor Jupiter knocked the wind out of her. She gasped for breath and continued. "Attack it! Hit it with everything you've got!"

Sailor Moon had already prepared another discus, but as she wound up to throw it, Mewtwo wrenched her arm and made her drop it. The other Scouts also felt Mewtwo's grip pulling on their arms as they tried to aim, preventing most of them from using their attacks. However, Jupiter didn't need her hands free. "JUPITER THUNDER CRASH!" she yelled, and lightning shot from her tiara.

Mewtwo's shield blocked the lightning, as expected, but the Sailor Scouts managed to pull their arms free in that instant to take aim for another attack. Venus and Mars struck in unison, their energy attacks exploding against the invisible curved surface of Mewtwo's shield. That in turn gave Sailor Moon enough time to get off another round of Moon Tiara Magic, and Jupiter followed that quickly with her Jupiter Thunder Crash.

Relieved that her plan was working, Mercury turned her attention to coming up with a way to take advantage of the distraction. But Mewtwo wasn't finished yet. With a spine-tingling growl of rage, Mewtwo reared back, its aura intensifying to blinding brightness. The glow quickly faded, but as it did, the force holding Mercury up suddenly let go, to be replaced by a crushing pressure on her throat. Her muscles went limp as her air supply was cut off, leaving her entire body dangling by her neck. The strangled gasps of the other Sailor Scouts told her that they were in the same situation. She reached up to her throat as her vision started to fade to black, but it was predictably useless. 

Suddenly, a ball of water flew from the sky and smashed into Mewtwo's shield, covering it with a thick shell of water. A huge boulder slammed into it next, shattering into pieces on impact. Forgotten, the Sailor Scouts fell to the ground as Mewtwo sent the water flying in all directions and turned toward the rooftop where the new threat was. "Again?" it groaned, stretching a paw to the distant rooftop. As the Sailor Scouts watched, two women fell from the top of the building, tracing a graceful arc through the air until they stopped right in front of Mewtwo. The one with long aqua hair fell to the ground between Sailor Moon and Sailor Mars, while the one with the boyishly short dirty blonde hair floated in Mewtwo's grip. "You.... How many times do I have to kill you before you stay dead?"

Sailor Moon's bleary eyes focused on the woman sitting next to her. Her uniform was unmistakable - a sailor fuku, exactly like those of the Sailor Scouts. "Are you... the Sailor Scouts of the Outer Planets?" she asked.

The unidentified Sailor Scout stared back, frozen in fear.

"Neptune, what are you doing?" gasped the one who was still in the air. "Help me!"

"But the Inner Scouts... they've seen us!" protested Neptune.

"And the universe still seems to be in one piece," returned the other. "Which is a lot more than you can say about me if you don't do something!"

"MOON TIARA MAGIC!" Sailor Moon's tiara sped past the shocked Neptune and struck Mewtwo's shield, bouncing off as it always did with no effect. The other Inner Scouts quickly followed up with their own attacks, valiantly leaping to the defense of their unknown friends. Mewtwo snarled and struck back at all of them with psychic punches, allowing Neptune to pull her partner free of its weakened grip. The Outer Scouts attacked in tandem before Mewtwo could renew its assault on them.

"NEPTUNE DEEP SUBMERGE!"

"URANUS WORLD SHAKING!"

Mewtwo pointed its arms at the incoming projectiles and halted them in their tracks, but the Inner Scouts were already preparing their next attacks. Three elemental waves and a tiara hit Mewtwo's shield at the same time, breaking its concentration enough to allow the Outers' attacks to hit home.

Before they could prepare another strike, Mewtwo launched itself straight up, not stopping until it was barely a dot in the upper atmosphere. Then, it became visible again, as a blue flame so intense that it put the afternoon sun to shame. Everything in sight took on its blue hue, making the street look like a scene filmed through a monochromatic lens. The cracks appeared almost instantly, making time wind down almost to a halt.

"Aa ppaarraaddooxx!" shouted Neptune.

"Iitt'ss tthhaatt eenneerrggyy," replied Uranus. "Iitt'ss wwaayy ttoooo mmuucchh!"

"NO MORE GAMES!" yelled Mewtwo, both the speed and volume of its voice making the Sailor Scouts' heads ache. "Whether it destroys this universe or not, I WILL KILL YOU ALL!" With that, it turned its head to the ground and sped downwards at what almost seemed to be a normal speed, given the time dilation. Within seconds, it was close enough that they could make out its silhouette in the middle of the aura, and they could feel the sheer force of its energy pressing down on them from above.

"VVEENNUUSS CCRREESSCCEENNTT BBEEAAMM SSMMAASSHH!" shouted Venus, sending a beam of energy toward the attacking Pokémon. The speed of her attack was so fast that it took only a moment to reach Mewtwo even through the time dilution. It struck Mewtwo squarely on the head but had absolutely no effect.

"Iitt llooookkss lliikkee tthhee sshhiieelldd iiss ddoowwnn," observed Mars. "Bbuutt iitt'ss iinn ssoommee kkiinndd ooff bbeerrsseerrkkeerr mmooddee.... Oouurr aattttaacckkss aarreenn'tt ggooiinngg ttoo hhuurrtt iitt!"

Mercury pulled down her visor, hoping to gain some insight into Mewtwo's latest form of attack, but not surprisingly, the word OVERLOAD flashed on the screen, blinking on and off once every few seconds. Mercury's hand clenched on the computer in frustration - and then it hit her. It was a long shot, but considering the certainty that Mewtwo's impact with the Earth would cause major damage, that tiny chance was the only option. She pulled back her arm and hurled the computer into the center of the group, praying that it would cross the distance in time.

The next few seconds took nearly five minutes to play out, but to those who awaited the outcome, it passed in a heartbeat. Mewtwo sped inexorably toward the ground, while the Mercury Computer slowly arced through its collision course with the incoming Pokémon. Soon, they could feel its aura beating down on them like an oven broiler, and they had to turn their heads down as quickly as they could to avoid looking directly into the blinding light. Instead, they turned their attention to the Mercury Computer one by one, wondering Mercury was hoping to gain by throwing it into the path of the monster and sure destruction. Mercury didn't exactly know that herself, which may have been what prevented Mewtwo from noticing it until it had reached the level of the nearby rooftops.

Its head slowly swiveled to bring the computer into sight as it continued to descend, now so close that the Scouts felt like they were about to be torn apart from the intensity of Mewtwo's entire power at close range. It stretched out a paw and pointed it at the computer, freezing it in midair. But by that time, Mercury's attention was no longer on the computer or the Pokémon, but on the giant orb of dark energy just beyond them. The dark attack caught Mewtwo completely unawares, hitting it solidly on its blind side and knocking it right into the now immobile Mercury Computer. Mewtwo and its entire aura became no more than a large ball of red energy, which promptly swirled into the Mercury Computer like a penny spinning around the inside of a funnel. The instability in the universe repaired itself with a thunderous crash, letting the softly glowing Mercury Computer fall to the ground at normal speed. It bounced several times, wriggling like a desperate fish out of water.

Sailor Moon was the first to catch her breath. "What just happened?" she asked.

"Mewtwo seemed afraid of the Mercury Computer before," replied Mercury. "I thought if I could get it to touch the computer, something might happen."

"It sure did!" said Jupiter. "It looked like Mewtwo got sucked inside!"

"But it's trying to get out," Venus pointed out.

Mercury nodded. "Quickly, everyone. This is our chance to prepare a combined attack and blast it when it escapes."

Sailor Moon raised her tiara and turned it into a discus. "Ready!"

Mercury pushed her energy into the discus as she had before. "By the power of Mercury!"

"By the power of Jupiter!"

"By the power of Mars!"

"By the power of Venus!"

The energy surrounding the tiara took on the familiar warm glow, but rather than sealing it with her own power, Sailor Moon turned to the Outer Scouts. "Come on, you two! We need your energy as well!"

Neptune blinked in surprise. "Are they supposed to be able to do that?" she asked.

"Who cares?" returned Uranus. "They're doing it, and we're helping." She raised her hands. "By the power of Uranus!" she shouted, clouding the mixture of energy with fine dust.

Neptune sighed and followed suit. "By the power of Neptune!" The water began to roll and spin within the ball of energy, forming huge waves. Even with Venus' energy holding the mixture together, it seemed to be threatening to fall apart in Sailor Moon's hands.

Sailor Moon smiled and focused her own energy into the discus. "And by the power of the Moon," she chanted, "let our combined power strike down our enemies!" The resulting projectile was much larger and brighter than the previous one had been, bathing all seven Scouts in its warm light. Despite the drain of providing the energy for the attack, they felt re-energized just looking at it.

Seconds later, the Mercury Computer popped open and Mewtwo emerged in the same flash of red light in which it had entered the computer. Sailor Moon threw the discus without hesitation. "SAILOR SCOUTS COMBINED TIARA MAGIC!"

"Fools," said Mewtwo, extending a paw and focusing on the incoming projectile. However, in its weakened and disoriented state, it never had a chance against the minds of all seven Sailor Scouts. The discus slammed into its chest, knocking it to the ground, where it collapsed in a heap on top of its armor. Weakly, it raised its head, but it was clearly out of energy. "It appears that I suffer from the weakness of emotions after all," it said. "So blinded by rage that I left myself open to attack. I see.... I have learned much about myself as well." With that, its head dropped, and it lay unmoving atop the pile of metal parts.

"Did we kill it?" asked Sailor Moon.

"I don't think so," replied Mercury. She cautiously edged close enough to retrieve her computer and scanned Mewtwo. "It's unconscious from energy loss, but it's still alive."

"Then let's finish the job!" said Mars, taking aim at Mewtwo for a final blast.

"No!" shouted Venus, pushing Mars' arms down. "There's no need to kill it now!"

"You want to just leave it there until it wakes up?" Mars shot back.

"It won't wake up," Uranus promised. "Once you five leave, we'll make sure of that."

Sailor Moon turned to the almost forgotten Outer Scouts and bowed deeply. "Thank you for your help, both of you. We couldn't have survived without you."

Uranus snorted. "It's our job."

"Then do you know where these enemies are coming from?" asked Mercury. "We know so little about what we're facing that anything you can tell us will help."

"We'll tell you everything we can later," replied Neptune. "We'll have to confer with someone first. We don't know much more than you do, ourselves, and even less of that is safe to tell you."

Mars nodded. "We meet at the Cherry Hill Shrine at the edge of town. Do you know it?"

"We're familiar with it," replied Neptune. "We'll be there as soon as we can. Wait for us there."

"Make sure that you don't come as Sailor Scouts," warned Mercury. "The other people living at the shrine don't know that we're actually the Sailor Scouts, and we need to keep it that way, especially now that our enemies are trying to discover our true identities."

"I don't think that's a good idea," said Uranus. "We have to keep our true identities a secret as well... especially from the five of you."

"We'll work something out," added Neptune. "No need to worry. Just get going, before Mewtwo really does wake up."

"Why do we have to leave before you can take care of Mewtwo?" asked Venus.

"That's one of the things we can't tell you," Uranus said impatiently. "Just trust us and get out of sight so we can do what needs to be done."

Mars scowled. "All right," she said, sounding more grudging than she intended. "We'll trust you."

The battered Inner Scouts said their goodbyes and quickly departed the scene, leaving the Outers to their own devices. Sailor Pluto appeared shortly thereafter, nodding in satisfaction at the fallen Pokémon. "They did well," she said proudly. "As did the two of you."

"It was your attack that saved us at the last second," Neptune replied.

"You could have helped sooner," fumed Uranus.

"She did," Neptune informed her. "She healed you and Sailor Mars, and got the Mercury Computer repaired."

Pluto assumed a puzzled look. "Sailor Mars? I'd forgotten she was injured. Now that you mention it, it was strange to see her here, and in full health. But I promise you, I had nothing to do with it."

"That's odd," said Neptune. "I wonder who, then...."

"So what's the deal with the Inner Scouts, anyway?" Uranus asked suddenly. "You told us if they saw us, it would be a paradox. But they knew who we were even before we showed up."

Pluto nodded. "I will have to think about that, later. But this is neither the time nor the place for that. Help me get Mewtwo back into its armor."

The three quickly got to work reassembling the contraption, and managed to get all the pieces in the right places without too much difficulty.

"Will that stay together once it gets back to its own world?" asked Neptune, eyeing their handiwork dubiously.

"Most likely not," replied Pluto. "The events that have happened in this world have likely resulted in this creature being let loose in its own world to wreak untold havoc. Yet we have done all we can. That matter will have to be resolved on its own." She raised her staff in front of her body horizontally. "PLUTO DIMENSIONAL BANISHMENT!" Mewtwo and its armor promptly vanished in a ball of dark energy.

Pluto looked herself over. "Again, nothing," she declared. "Just as when I sent Kusanagi back to his world, it required almost no effort at all."

"Well, that's good, right?" asked Neptune.

"In this case, yes," replied Pluto. "But because Sailor Saturn felt so different... I fear that we may not have seen the last of her after all."

"That's going to make this tough," said Uranus. "Especially if these other bad guys keep showing up. If all of us put together had this much trouble beating Mewtwo, what's going to happen if Beryl sends someone even stronger?"

"We'll find a way to win," said Neptune. "At the very least, we know that for whatever reason, there's no paradox in the Inner Scouts knowing about us. In the next battle, we'll be able to fight side by side with them."

Pluto nodded wistfully. "I think I understand now. The universe is indeed a strange machination, if it were to hold true...."

"What?" Uranus prompted.

Pluto sighed. "I suppose there's no harm in it now. The fundamental truth of the universe was not meant for mortal minds, but then the problem at hand is far beyond the scope of mortals anyway, and you two have pledged your lives to it. You deserve to know the truth, even though it may well cost you your sanity if you are not prepared for it."

"Like I've never heard that before," said Uranus skeptically. "What is it, forty-two?"

"You may joke now," said Pluto, "but you will change your tune when you hear what I have to tell you." She pointed her staff, and the Gate of Time opened before them.

"Where are you going to take us?" asked Neptune, edging away from the opening. "To the center of the universe? The place with all the answers?"

"Our hotel room," Pluto replied with a smile. "This is just a faster way to get there."

Uranus laughed at Neptune's reaction. "The look on your face...!"

"I hope you will take what I have to say more seriously than that," Pluto warned her. "For what I will say once we get there will forever change the way you view the universe."

"Is it really that amazing?" asked Neptune.

"More so," replied Pluto, beckoning them toward the portal. "Just don't say I didn't warn you...."

*************************************************

Beryl frowned at her globe. "Your fighter lost again, Chronite," she said with an air more of frustration than anger, but with just a touch of superiority. And that omnipresent, annoying cheer that she just couldn't dispel from Momiji's voice no matter how hard she tried. The power, she reminded herself, watching her mitama glow with some satisfaction. The power made it all worthwhile.

"Indeed," replied Chronite. "I'm not as surprised as you might think. It seems that the Sailor Scouts are truly a force to be reckoned with. Particularly Sailor Pluto...."

"What do you intend to do about it?" asked Beryl.

"Mewtwo's weakness was its arrogance," said Chronite. "It believed far too much in its capacity to get the job done. What we need is a fighter whose capacity matches up to his expectations."

"And you know of such a fighter?"

"Naturally," replied Chronite. "I know just the character for the job."

"If it's more powerful than Mewtwo, why didn't you bring it in the first place?" she challenged.

"There is a risk involved with summoning fighters of greater power," explained Chronite. "If the fight we propose isn't up to their standards, they may turn on us instead."

"Let them try," said Beryl, letting the mitama's glow bathe herself and Chronite. "No force can stand against my power."

"No force in this universe, certainly, my Queen," Chronite corrected her, adding the respectful title as a placating gesture. "But in other universes, there are powers that can strike down even gods. Powers that even I would stand no chance against in my current state." During the uncomfortable pause that followed this statement, he remembered the alleged hierarchy of power and hastily added, "Powers that even you could not control."

Beryl snorted. "Maybe so. So what do you have in mind?"

"The world I intend to visit this time is the home of some of the most powerful beings in all of creation," he replied authoritatively. "The most powerful ones, of course, are aligned so heavily with good that not even coercion could convince them to join us. The evil powers are nowhere near their level, but they are still more than adequate to dispatch the Sailor Scouts with minimal effort."

"So you plan to find the most powerful of the evil powers and hire his services?" asked Beryl.

"Not the most powerful," Chronite said hastily. "That one has no fear whatsoever, and has either the mind of a child or the infinite hunger for destruction that outweighs any actual cognitive faculties. To convince him to attack the Sailor Scouts would be impossible in either case. But the one who precedes him is a titan with a quest that a side trip to this dimension may actually help him fulfill... if I can convince him, of course."

Beryl scowled, but it disappointingly came out as more of a pout. "We should hire the stronger fighter, regardless. If you can only draw one fighter from this power-rich world, I won't take a chance with any less than the best."

"That simply won't do," said Chronite, shaking his head. "That one gains too much of his strength from the good within him. If the Sailor Scouts continue the way they have been, they might well convince him to turn to their side, no matter what we offer him. And when that part of him is expelled...." He shuddered. "Even I hesitate to go near such a monster. He would never join us."

Beryl sighed. "Very well. Then we will go with your choice. But know this, Chronite...." She drew herself to full height, seeming to tower over him despite the fact that she was almost a full foot shorter. The mitama's glow seemed tinged with blood red. "I will not tolerate another failure from you. If this new fighter lets the Sailor Scouts survive, you WILL know the full force of my wrath."

Surprisingly, Chronite found himself cowering. "Yes, ma'am," he said meekly. Satisfied with that reaction, she turned and walked away into the darkness, leaving him alone with his heart pounding in his chest. "Just like an angry mother," he noted to himself. "Perhaps she WOULD be able to control Majin Buu after all... all the more reason not to bring him here." Swallowing hard, he formed a portal and stepped through it, preparing himself to meet the new ally in the battle against the Sailor Scouts.


	17. 16: The Truths They Didn't Know

A General Time Paradox

Chapter 16: The Truths They Didn't Know

The portal opened in an empty corner of the hotel room, and Sailor Uranus stepped through it, plopping immediately onto the bed. Sailor Neptune followed shortly, walking around the bed to sit in one of the small chairs. Sailor Pluto was the last to emerge, sealing the portal behind herself. Once the whirling portal had snapped shut, she sighed heavily and let her head hang.

"Is something wrong, Sailor Pluto?" Neptune asked with some concern.

"Everything is turning out completely wrong," Pluto replied glumly. "The enemies we face are becoming more and more powerful, and I can only assume that it heralds further increases in Chronite's power. Every time I act, he gains strength. Soon, he will be able to tap into the most powerful worlds and gain allies far beyond even my strength. That is, if he is not already that powerful."

"Then, are you going to stop using your power altogether?" asked Neptune.

"You're not leaving us on our own," Uranus insisted. "We can't win this without you."

"I will continue to use my power as I must," Pluto agreed. "But it can only be as a last resort, in defense of the universe against the possibility of a paradox. Anything else is a waste."

Uranus snorted. "Anyway, speaking of paradoxes, I believe you had an explanation for us? Like, why there wasn't one when the Inner Scouts saw us?"

Pluto sighed again. "Please, try to be patient. This is very difficult for me. The things I am about to tell you have never been known in this universe... and in the universes where they have been discovered, the effects have been... unpredictable. In addition, there is no guarantee that this story will answer your question. These matters are beyond even my knowledge."

"I thought the Guardian of Time was supposed to know everything about the way the Universe works," said Uranus.

"Just because the Guardians of Time created the universes, it doesn't mean that we know everything about them," replied Pluto. "Given the right components, you could build a computer, but that doesn't mean that you know how each transistor functions in the complete system."

Neptune nodded. "The whole is more than the sum of the parts, and can exhibit properties that are not inherent in any single piece."

Uranus waved a hand over her head. "Right, right. Just forget I asked."

Pluto nodded. "Yes, we must stay focused. Now, do you remember everything I've told you so far about the nature of timelines and universes?"

"Universes and timelines are like trees and branches," recapped Uranus. "The branches grow as people make decisions, and the trunk is the most important timeline because it connects to the Council of Time at the end. The roots are the rules that cause a paradox if they're broken. Did I leave anything out?"

"I think that covers everything important," said Pluto. "Now, for what I hope will be our final lesson, you'll need to put the tree metaphor aside and consider a different one."

"Great," Uranus groaned. "More complications."

"This shouldn't be as complicated as you expect," countered Pluto. "Simply consider the fact that each actor in the universe only perceives a single timeline. So, there is no contradiction in fixing a particular timeline and considering only one sequence of events as the entirety of a universe. And, for the sake of simplicity, let's assume that we choose the One True Timeline."

"That's not complicated?" asked Uranus, scratching her head in confusion.

"In other words, we're disregarding the results of choices and pretending that only one timeline exists in the universe," Neptune clarified.

"Exactly," agreed Pluto. "Now, pretend that we have a book that describes that entire timeline from beginning to end. To the actors within the universe, time flows normally, and they experience lives from birth to death, in which they see remnants of a past that existed before they were born, and their influence may live on long after their deaths. Yet a reader - the metaphorical equivalent of a being that exists in supertime - can turn to any page at any time, and experience all that the universe has to offer without regard to the time within that universe. For the reader, the book's time is irrelevant, but to those living within the book, the same events take place in the same order no matter whether the reader reads straight through from cover to cover, or backwards, or chooses a page at random and ignores all that comes before and after."

"It's not quite the same for you, though, is it?" asked Neptune. "You can travel freely through time as you said, but you can interact with the people in the universe."

"I can indeed," agreed Pluto. "But as I, too, am a character in the book, that interaction has already been written. To do more or less within the scope of the book would cause a paradox."

"Scope of the book?" inquired Uranus.

"It would be impossible for every aspect of the universe to be contained in the book," Pluto explained. "No one, even an immortal, would be capable of taking in the entire story in that form. The book must focus on a small number of actors at any time. The remainder of the universe continues to change with time, but the outside observer is only watching a small portion of it."

"I think I see where this is going," said Neptune. "If something happens to change the portions of the universe that aren't in the book, then there wouldn't be a paradox."

"As long as the changes don't affect the book, even peripherally, that would be correct."

"Let me guess," put in Uranus, "the people in the book are the only ones who can create timelines, right?"

Pluto shook her head. "No, timelines can form anywhere in space and time. But each newly created timeline would have its own book, identical to the original until the moment of divergence. After that point, there's no guarantee that the books would even be recognizable as derivations of the same universe."

"But they all have the same roots, right?" asked Neptune.

"Now you're mixing metaphors," noted Uranus.

"But accurately," stated Pluto. "The roots are the only thing guaranteed to hold true in every timeline within a universe. And even then, variations are possible, if the timeline is sufficiently removed from the One True Timeline."

"Something seems incongruous about bending the fundamental rules of the Universe," said Neptune.

"Then you won't bend them," replied Pluto, with just a hint of a smile. "There are some to whom such restrictions mean nothing. Chronite is one of those."

"So he can bend the rules without creating a paradox?" asked Uranus.

"To an extent," agreed Pluto. "But that alone does not explain what has happened during the battle against Mewtwo. We have seen the Sailor Scouts gain knowledge that we know them not to possess in the future, including a powerful technique that they should not be able to use."

"Which was the original question," Uranus reminded her. "So we're back to the beginning."

"But consider the book metaphor more literally," continued Pluto. "In addition to only covering a certain group of characters, a book also can only contain a tiny portion of the time within a universe. The books that you find on bookshelves describe only a short period: days, weeks, or even years. The universes described within the books span an eternity, but the book opens to only a limited fraction of that. The characters have lives that often begin before the start of the book, and continue after the book ends. As a reader, you cannot experience that portion of the characters' lives, but that doesn't make it any less real."

"But that's just a book," said Uranus. "It's not real at all."

"She's talking about the metaphorical book that describes THIS universe," Neptune reminded her.

Pluto nodded. "Yes. But there is one more aspect of a book that affects the continuity of events within it... chaptering. The book is divided into chapters, and between the chapters, any amount of time can pass. Just like before and after the book, the time between chapters is hidden from the reader. It is generally assumed that nothing significant happens during that time. However, it is quite possible that anything can take place in those periods, as long as it does not affect the parts of the book that are written."

"So you can change the events in the timeline after the book is written without changing the book itself," Neptune speculated.

"In most cases, those changes will simply create a new timeline," added Pluto. "However, when a new timeline cannot be created, those changes will be contained within the timeline that is being changed. And if that timeline is the One True Timeline of that universe... then a way must be found to merge the changes into the already established course of the timeline, or a paradox will result."

Realization dawned in Uranus' eyes. "I think I get it now! The One True Timeline is the only timeline where paradoxes can happen!"

"More or less," agreed Pluto. "There are other timelines which are destined to merge with the One True Timeline at a later point, and they too can give rise to paradoxes. But they are subject to a slightly different set of rules."

"And we're in one of those timelines, then?" asked Neptune. "One that takes place between chapters in the One True Timeline?"

"And all we have to do to prevent a paradox is restore everything to normal before we rejoin the real timeline, right?" added Uranus.

Pluto smiled. "That's correct. I told you it wasn't as complicated as you thought."

"Then there hasn't been a paradox because there is still a way to restore the proper course of events?" asked Neptune.

"Correct again."

Uranus shook her head. "Still, I don't see anything we can do short of erasing their memories...." She smacked her forehead and groaned. "Idiot! Of course their memories are going to be erased! After they died fighting Beryl, they awoke with no memory of anything that had happened! That will include meeting us and learning the combined tiara attack, won't it?"

Pluto nodded. "I'm ashamed to say that I didn't even consider that when I warned you against being seen. It appears that quite a bit of what I thought would cause a paradox is actually relatively safe. But we are still playing with the fabric of time, and we still do not know how far we can stretch it. Any action that cannot be set right will cause a paradox."

"Man, it hurts to think about it," said Uranus. "Picturing our entire lives as a book.... Say, who reads this book, anyway? You?"

Pluto laughed. "No, I, too, am a character like yourselves. The readers are a higher power than even the Guardians of Time."

Neptune gasped. "I thought it was just a metaphor!"

"Yeah, I was just kidding!" Uranus put in.

"As was I," Pluto replied dismissively. "Don't concern yourselves too much with it. As long as you understand what's happening, there is no need to dwell on the details of the fundamental nature of the Universe."

Neptune stood up. "Well, then we should probably be going. The Inner Scouts are waiting for us."

Uranus grabbed Neptune's wrist as she walked past the bed. "Nah, it's too early. They've had a tough day. Let's give them a break for now."

"And what do you propose we do in the meantime?" asked Neptune.

Uranus tugged on her arm, pulling her down onto the bed. "Let's give those 'readers' something entertaining to watch."

"What do you mean?" asked Neptune, just before Uranus silenced her with a kiss.

"You know I always like a little action after a tough battle," Uranus whispered into Neptune's ear, which she then proceeded to nibble on lightly.

"I don't think... this is the time... oh!" Neptune gave up her protests and gave in to her instincts, moving her hands down to Uranus' skirt and thrusting them under the fabric.

"Hey, you're moving pretty fast for someone who doesn't want to," Uranus teased, sliding her lips down to Neptune's neck and -

Pluto turns to you with a disapproving stare. "I bet you're enjoying this, aren't you? But this scene isn't for your eyes. Go occupy a different viewpoint until they're done." She points her staff at you and chants under her breath, drawing a dismal light from deep within its ornament, which swirls before your eyes and expands until it is all you can see, resolving into the image of a small two-story house. A green figure steps into the picture, and the next scene begins.

*************************************************

There wasn't anything particularly special about the house, but it was the first one he'd seen in the wilderness where he'd landed after traveling to the past, and the light in one of the lower windows suggested an inhabitant. That, at least, was a good place to start. He strode casually up the walk as if to his own front door and entered the unlocked building.

The furnishings were rather frilly for the most part, but oddly enough, the place smelled slightly of gunpowder. At least one crude, ancient firearm hung on each wall, and every one had been polished until it gleamed. There was not a speck of dust to be seen anywhere, including on the feather duster sitting on the fireplace mantle. A fastidious woman clearly lived here, as well as someone who loved collecting weapons. It would have seemed an odd combination had he any knowledge of human society and culture, but that was one part of his experience that was severely lacking.

A low hum caught his ear, drawing his attention to a room near the back of the house, where the woman was apparently performing some task that contented her. Cleaning, most likely, he thought as he moved stealthily in that direction. But as he entered the occupied room, which turned out to be the dining room, he discovered that he was mistaken. The dark-haired woman was sitting at the table, which bore a small bowl of tomato soup and a portion of roast chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy, and a side of green beans, as well as the mandatory salt and pepper shakers and a silver candlestick.

The humming stopped as he passed through the doorway, and the woman gasped at the sight of him. "What are you?" she asked, frozen in fear.

He smiled. "My name is Cell," he introduced himself. "I have come here from the future to search for my missing components."

"M-missing components?" she repeated, still in shock at his appearance.

Cell nodded and threw two photographs onto the table, depicting what appeared to be a teenaged boy with a mop of jet-black hair, and his blonde twin sister. "These two are androids who may appear human at first glance, but in truth, they are the key to reaching my full power. I must find them as soon as possible."

The woman slowly shook her head. "I've never seen them before in my life!"

"Pity," said Cell. "Then I'll simply have to kill you."

The woman screamed and fell off her chair, pulling the tablecloth with her as she went. Her dinner spilled everywhere, covering her with tomato soup and gravy. "Please don't kill me!" she pleaded. "I don't know anything! I really don't!"

"I know," agreed Cell. "That's why you're useless to me alive. But dead...." He edged around the overturned table and raised his tail, preparing to strike. However, far from cowering in fear, the woman was reaching determinedly for the pepper shaker. Curious, Cell stood still and watched as she grabbed it and turned it toward herself, spraying her face with pepper. She inhaled deeply several times, the last cut short by a violent sneeze, so powerful that it turned her hair a bright yellow.

She was on her feet in an instant, her eyes ablaze with newfound defiance. "All right, ugly! I don't know who you are or what you want, but you're in MY house, and I want you out NOW!"

Cell chuckled. Whatever change had taken place in his victim would make this exchange a bit more interesting. "I'll be on my way in a few moments," he informed her, "right after I kill you."

The woman's hands darted out of sight and returned carrying an Uzi. "You asked for it!" she shouted, pulling the trigger without even bothering to take aim. Thousands of bullets flew from the weapon, bouncing harmlessly off Cell's thick green skin.

Cell made a show of yawning pretentiously. "I hope you've got something a bit bigger tucked away somewhere," he said. "Otherwise, killing you won't be very much fun. I prefer it when people try to fight back."

She threw the gun away in disgust. "Fine, then! Take THIS!" From the same hidden place, she extracted a bazooka, raised it to her shoulder, and fired a missile in the same motion. Cell felt the impact in his gut as he flew backwards, smashing into the china cabinet and destroying it along with all of its contents.

The woman smirked in satisfaction. "That's what you get for messing with Launch," she informed the deceased intruder.

The intruder, however, proved himself to be not quite as deceased as she thought by sitting up and groaning. "What was that? Mere human weapons shouldn't have any effect on me!"

Launch stared through the hole in Cell's stomach at the wreckage of her other self's fine china, then looked up into Cell's very much alive face, and her jaw dropped. "No way! I killed you!"

Cell followed her gaze and stared at the gaping wound in disdain. "Ah, I see. That." He grunted, and the sides of the wound pulsated like a donut-shaped purple heart, throbbing more and more with each repetition until, at once, they spat forth a perfect copy of the section of Cell's body that had been removed. Its color was slightly lighter than the surrounding material, but it quickly darkened until there was no sign that Cell had ever been damaged. "That's better," he announced calmly, as if repairing holes through his body was a matter of everyday routine for him.

Launch dropped to one knee, took aim, and fired again. "Ha! Let's see you survive a head sh-" Her taunt ended abruptly as Cell effortlessly caught the missile in one hand. It exploded, covering everything in the room with soot, but leaving Cell completely intact.

"Enough of this game," said Cell, grabbing her head and giving it a quick squeeze before she could react. She slumped to the floor, unconscious. "Perhaps you were more dangerous than I gave you credit for, but sooner or later, all fall to the might of Cell." He thrust the needle-like tip of his tail into her spine and began to suck the energy from her, watching as her body withered to nothing. "Yes, yes... quite a bit of life energy in this one. I wonder if all humans are this powerful." He scratched the base of his mouthpiece, where his chin would have been if he had been built with one. "If they can damage me with their puny weapons, perhaps I will need to gain more energy before I confront the component androids." He clenched a fist. "I'll just have to find more humans... human cities... and drain them dry."

"There's really no need for that," said a confident voice behind him. Cell whirled to face a man who looked a bit like a human cherry - a shock of bright red hair and skintight clothes of almost the same color. The new arrival casually leaned against the doorframe, awaiting Cell's response.

Cell's tail darted out with such speed that even he couldn't see it - and buried itself to the base of the needle in the wall as its target failed to be in the anticipated position. Cell spun around, searching for his opponent, and spotted him standing amidst the wreckage of the china cabinet.

"Come on," taunted the red man. "You'll have to do better than that if you want to hit me!"

Cell sneered. This was no mere human. Pulling his tail free, he raised his hand and pointed his palm at the man, letting a ball of energy collect in front of it. The man made no attempt to get out of the way, which was fine with Cell. He let the blast go, and it flew at light-speed through the space where the man had been and blew a hole in the dining room wall.

"I'm only trying to help you, you know," the man said from behind Cell. This time, Cell didn't even bother to turn around before shooting an energy ball at the man. Suddenly, the man was in front of him again, still wearing a cocky grin.

Cell paused, considering his strange opponent. The man clearly had incredible speed, greater than Cell's, which was impossible for a human; Dr. Gero's notes had made that abundantly clear. Cell was more powerful than even the last of the Saiyans, the alien race that put the strongest humans to shame in every aspect of fighting ability. Yet despite his advantage, the man made no move to attack, as if waiting for some response from Cell. He decided that, at least once, it wouldn't hurt to indulge his opponent's desire. "What are you offering me?" he asked.

"It looks like you need quite a bit of power before you can accomplish your objective," said the man. "But most humans are relatively weak. It will take a very long time to build up the amount of energy you need from ordinary people." He winked. "On the other hand, *I* know some humans who have a great deal of energy, ripe for the taking. They should be no match for you, even as weak as you are, but their powers combined should be more than enough for your purposes."

"It sounds like an interesting idea," Cell pretended to agree. "But if I had your power, I'd be strong enough immediately!" He struck with his tail again, hoping to catch his opponent by surprise, but the man once again seemed to vanish and reappear at Cell's side.

The man shook his head sadly. "It doesn't work that way, I'm afraid. You wouldn't want to absorb me. I'm all bones, no meat." He chuckled a bit at his own joke. "No, you wouldn't be able to use my powers even if you were to absorb them. The Sailor Scouts, on the other hand.... I believe you would find their elemental powers quite useful."

Cell mulled over the prospect. "Elemental powers, you say? What use could they possibly be to someone as powerful as myself?"

His opponent shrugged. "I'd think it would be a great advantage to be able to attack with fire, or electricity, or even water, in addition to the energy attacks you can already use. Your opponents certainly wouldn't be expecting it. And I understand that androids are weak against those particular attacks."

The sides of Cell's mouthpiece curled upward despite his demeanor. "Why, yes. That DOES sound interesting. So where exactly can I find these 'Sailor Scouts'?"

"They are not of this world," replied the man. "Only I can take you to them, and only I can bring you back here afterward. I don't think I need to explain myself further."

Cell sneered. "You want me to do something for you in return."

The man's face darkened. "Make sure the Sailor Scouts die. Every one of them."

Cell heartily laughed out loud. "Now that's my kind of favor!"

*************************************************

In the depths of the Negaverse, a portal opened, and Ranma and Lina stepped through it side by side. "Ah, that was a good dinner," announced Lina, patting her belly contentedly.

"Sure was," agreed Ranma. "But are you sure we're supposed to be spending that much money on food? Beryl might not be too happy with that kind of expense...."

"Relax," Lina reassured him. "The gal's loaded. One of her former generals was a millionaire, and when he died, she put all the money into a big expense account. What else is she going to spend it on? It's not like she collects shoes or anything."

"I dunno," said Ranma, rubbing the back of his head. "I just got the feeling that that one meal cost more than everything I've ever eaten in my life put together."

"That has to be an exaggeration," retorted Lina.

"I didn't get to eat much as a kid," replied Ranma. "Wasn't until I got to the Tendo Dojo that I even got to eat real meals, and even then it was a race against Pops to get to the food."

"Doesn't sound like much of a father to me."

Ranma shrugged. "It's made me stronger and faster. So I guess I can't complain."

"Did you want to be that way?" she asked.

"Never wanted to be anything else," he replied, not entirely in the affirmative.

"I guess I'm lucky," observed Lina. "At least I got my talents by choice. It wasn't forced on me so much as I thought it was the right thing to do."

"I don't see anything wrong with the Art," returned Ranma.

"To each his own," conceded Lina. "So, how long until that date with Sailor Mercury?"

"About an hour," replied Ranma. "Until then, I've got nothing to do."

Lina turned to look at him. "So, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

He shrugged again. "Might as well. At least it'll help me remember why I have to kill her."

They strode off toward the crystals, their footsteps eerily quiet as they walked carefully to avoid notice by anyone who might happen to be looking for them. They had to count themselves lucky not to have been confronted yet, but sooner or later, Beryl would inevitably demand to know why they had failed yet again. As far as they knew, this could be the last time they ever set eyes on their loved ones. In Ranma's case, that was almost certain.

The damage to Akane's crystal wasn't as bad as Ranma had expected. The cracks extended from the top of the crystal to a few inches from the bottom, but they were still thin and looked more like highways on a road map than the spiderweb they would eventually become. He gazed longingly at Akane, and heard Lina's sad sigh as she looked up into Gourry's face. He felt like a visitor at a grave, making a token gesture of sentiment to someone who he could only hope would ever be able to appreciate it. But Akane's soul wasn't in the afterlife yet. It was frozen inside with her - or so he hoped. What if he was wrong? What if she was watching him as he failed to carry out his mission and save her...? In fact, what would she think if he DID kill an innocent person to save her? Would she still respect him if he were a murderer? Would she ever forgive him?

His senses tingled. On reflex, he grabbed Lina and pulled her toward him, ducking behind Akane's crystal. "Someone's coming," he hissed before she could say anything.

Lina cautiously peered around the side of the crystal. "I don't see anyone," she whispered.

"It's that girl," Ranma whispered back. "The shadow girl."

"What's she doing here?" Lina wondered. "You don't think she came looking for us, do you?"

"Maybe she's here to look at the crystals, same as us," Ranma guessed.

"But isn't she already on their side?" asked Lina. "Why would they need to put someone she loves in a crystal?"

"Maybe not. She went against Beryl's orders when she saved that girl you attacked," he reminded her. "Maybe she's just like us... being forced to fight against her will."

Lina started to reply, but bit it back as the girl in black stopped in front of one of the crystals. She hadn't really noticed that one before, since her attention had been focused on Gourry's crystal every time she'd come this way (except for the time when she'd been looking at Akane's crystal with Ranma), but now she took a good look at the person within the third crystal and had to stifle an astonished gasp. It was a tiny girl, no more than nine years old from the looks of her, with soft pink hair tied into two cones that looked vaguely familiar, trailing thick tails down the sides of her head. She wore a dark blue dress that looked like an elementary school uniform, and as Lina moved around to see the front of the crystal, she saw the girl's face frozen in sleep. She'd thought seeing Gourry trapped in a crystal had been cruel, and seeing it happen a second time was nearly enough to crush her heart; but the thought of such a young and innocent girl suffering that fate, the threat of being shattered into pieces at even an accidental touch, just sickened her.

Her train of thought ended abruptly as the girl in black sniffled. "Rini...."

'That's this girl's name,' Lina thought to herself as she continued to study the pink-haired girl. What possible connection could she have to the girl in black? And why would the usually emotionless shadowed one be moved to tears over a girl? It couldn't be the same love that Lina had for Gourry, or Ranma for Akane... even admitting the possibility that they were lesbians, the girl in the crystal was far too young.

Lost in her thoughts yet again, Lina almost didn't see the girl in black pitch forward, right toward the crystal. Lina darted forward and barely caught the girl in time, holding her inches away from the crystal's surface. "Are you all right?" she asked.

"Thank you," the girl whispered. "I felt dizzy for a moment. It happens far too often these days."

"What's wrong? Are you sick?"

"My body is very weak," the girl replied. Then, in answer to Lina's unasked question, she continued. "I don't even know if I could find the strength to go on, without Rini."

Lina winced at the pain in her chest. It couldn't possibly be from her emotions, could it? It felt like her heart was on fire! "I'm so sorry," she whispered. "I didn't know...."

"What do you have to apologize for?" the girl in black asked sullenly. "You didn't do this to her."

"I just assumed.... You felt so evil that I thought you were on THEIR side. I never thought you were being forced to do it, just like us."

"There's nothing to apologize for," repeated the girl. "You weren't entirely wrong." She pushed herself away from Lina and stood up, showing no sign of the weakness that had caused her to stumble.

Lina stared at her quizzically, glancing at the girl in the crystal from time to time. "But... you... she... what are you talking about?"

The girl in black sighed. "I don't suppose there's any point in hiding who I am any longer. Now that you've seen this much of the truth...." She took a step back, and the shadows parted, revealing her form at last. It was hard to tell that there had been a change at all at first glance, as the girl's hair and most of her clothing were as dark as the shadows that had hidden them. But her downturned face, as well as her exposed arms and legs, were deathly pale. When next she spoke, her voice was much lighter than it had been, and could easily have been lost in a crowd of elementary scholars. "My name is Hotaru Tomoe," she introduced herself. "I'm a sixth grader at the Mugen School. Blood type AB, Capricorn."

"Sixth grader?" repeated Lina. "Then you're only -"

"Eleven years old," confirmed Hotaru.

"My god," whispered Lina, her breath catching in her chest. "You're just a kid!"

"How old did you think I was?" asked Hotaru.

"Older than that! I mean, you're even younger than the Sailor Scouts!"

"Age has nothing to do with power," replied Hotaru.

"You did seem too mature to be a grade schooler," said Ranma, coming out from behind the crystals at last. "I had you pegged for at least our age, maybe older."

"I have been through a great deal of hardship because of the powers within me," explained Hotaru. "And through it, the very thing that has weakened my body has made my spirit very strong."

"What do you mean?" asked Lina, feeling that Hotaru was begging that very question.

Hotaru let her head hang, and a strong wind kicked up around her, blowing her skirt and hair up as a wall of dark energy rose, hiding her from view. Lina covered her eyes until the wind died down, and when she looked, Hotaru's clothes had changed. The uniform she now wore was a familiar white leotard with a skirt that was just blue enough to not be solid black, and a ribbon that was an equally dark maroon. Knee-high boots, white gloves, and a tiara completed the ensemble, and the only thing that seemed slightly out of place was the large spear she held, whose blade looked more like a giant can opener. But despite the unusual weapon, her identity was unmistakable.

"You're a Sailor Scout?" Ranma and Lina chorused.

"Not a Sailor Scout," she replied. "I am all that the Sailor Scouts are not. I am their antithesis, the diametric opposite of the sum of their powers. I am the negation of all that is. I am darkness. I am the destroyer. I am the bringer of the end. I am... Sailor Saturn."

"Whoa, that's some angst trip," said Lina. "Could you be a little less gothic?"

"The Sailor Scouts have incredible power, as you have seen," Sailor Saturn continued. "And that power exists to protect the universe. But you, Lina Inverse, should know as well as anyone that no power can exist without an opposing power to balance it. I am the power that balances the Sailor Scouts."

"Ah, I see," said Lina, nodding her understanding. "You're like the black magic to their white magic."

"You could put it that way," Saturn agreed readily.

"So what's that mean?" asked Ranma. "You've gotta use your power for evil just because it's the opposite of theirs?"

"That's not the entirety of the story," replied Saturn. "There is another evil within me, an evil with a consciousness of its own. An evil that controls Hotaru as completely as she controls the power of Saturn."

Lina blinked in surprise. "You too?"

"What do you mean, 'you too?'" Ranma asked suspiciously.

"Never mind," Lina said a bit too quickly. "I was thinking of something else."

"Ever since I was young," injected Saturn, "my body has been the vessel for Mistress 9, the Sovereign of Silence. She could take control of my body at any time and force me to do... horrible things. Mostly, she commanded her lackeys to do the dirty work for her, because my body was too weak for her purposes. For some time, she was trying to collect pure hearts to fuel her plans. But her real goal was to control the power of Saturn itself and use it to destroy the universe so that she and her liege, Pharaoh 90, could rebuild it from the void, placing themselves in control of the new universe."

"Yep, sounds pretty evil to me," agreed Ranma. Lina remained profoundly silent.

"Fortunately, she was never able to accomplish that goal," continued Saturn. "The Planet Power of Saturn can only be used by Hotaru Tomoe, not by any other entity, even one acting through Hotaru's body. Because of that simple protection, Mistress 9 can only accomplish her goal by forcing me to use Saturn's power for her benefit."

"And that's why she has a hostage," Ranma surmised.

Saturn nodded. "I never wanted Rini to get involved in my problems. She was always so kind to me, and I'd never had a friend before...." A tear fell from her eye. "It took all of my strength to prevent Mistress 9 from hurting her. But I could never bring myself to tell her how much danger she was in because of me until it was too late. Then Mistress 9 stole her heart, and the only way I can save her is to use my power. But doing that would destroy the universe."

Lina nodded sagely. "I've been there before."

"Can't you fight Mistress 9 somehow?" asked Ranma.

Saturn shook her head. "My earlier attempts to fight her are what have left me in this weakened state. I would not survive another confrontation. However... that might not be the worst outcome. My death would seal the power of Saturn away forever. But then Mistress 9 would be free to use her own power. It's not as strong, but it would still cause widespread destruction and irreparably damage the universe. As long as she thinks she can control Saturn's power, however indirectly, Mistress 9 will remain within me. It is a question of which one of us will give up first." She chuckled darkly, giving her voice shades of her shadowed self. "It's an ironic situation, isn't it? She holds Rini hostage over me, and I hold the power of Saturn hostage over her. Two hostages, two hostage takers, and only two bodies between them."

"Yeah," Ranma said sarcastically, faking a laugh. "That's comedy."

Lina finally turned to look up at Rini again. "So, you're fighting to protect someone, just like we are. But didn't Beryl say that one of us was fighting for a selfish reason? I thought it was you, but if not...."

The three turned to look at the final crystal, which had been set apart from the others. Its surface was opaque at first, but as they walked closer, the "light" finally shifted to let them see within. What they saw was not a person at all, but a small stick with a forked upper end and a round bottom with two inset jewels that reminded Ranma of the gem in Ryoko's wrist. The stick looked just about the right size to be held in two hands.

"What the heck is that thing?" asked Lina. "Is that what Ryoko's fighting to protect?"

"It looks like the handle of a sword," said Ranma. "A bladeless sword...."

"Could be a sword of light," noted Lina. "Gourry has one, and when it's not active, it looks like an ordinary sword with no blade." Ranma observed that Lina didn't even hesitate when mentioning Gourry this time, but refrained from mentioning it.

Ryoko appeared behind them with a quiet POP! to announce her presence. "So, this is where you guys got to. I was wondering -" She broke off as she finally started to pay attention to her surroundings, which included the unfamiliar personage of Sailor Saturn. "What are you two doing hanging out with a Sailor Scout?"

Sailor Saturn faded to black. "I should leave you three alone. I'm sure you have things to discuss."

Ryoko gaped as Sailor Saturn vanished. "Hey! That's the - She's the -" she sputtered. Finally, her brain settled on "What the heck? She's been a Sailor Scout the whole time?"

"There's more to it than that," said Lina. "But you can ask her about that another time. Right now, we've got a question for you. What the heck is that thing?" She jerked a thumb demonstratively toward the crystal.

Ryoko shrugged. "What are you getting so bent out of shape about? That's just the Master Key."

"Key?" repeated Ranma. "I thought it was a sword handle."

"Yeah, it's a sword," affirmed Ryoko. "But it's a sword handed down through the royal family of Jurai, and they're the only ones who can use it." She paused. "Or at least, that's what they told me."

"I don't care what it is!" shouted Lina. "Why is it so important to you? Why is it all Beryl needs to convince you to fight innocent people?"

"Hey, those gems in the handle hold most of my power!" Ryoko shouted back. "I'm only half a Space Pirate without them!"

"Then you ARE fighting for selfish reasons!" Lina declared. "And to think I trusted you!"

"It's not like that!" Ryoko protested. "There's a very good reason I need those gems!"

"Really?" asked Lina, crossing her arms. "Do tell."

Ryoko sighed. "Fine. And if you still want to hate me after I tell you about it, go ahead. Not like I really care anyway."

"I don't suppose you would," Lina returned coldly.

Ranma felt the compelling urge to back away before the inevitable fight broke out, but reminded himself that, for once, it wasn't going to be over him.

"It all started about a month ago, when this kid named Tenchi pulled that very sword out of a stone and freed me from a three-thousand year sleep," Ryoko began. "I had some fun playing with him for a while, and I admit I got a little carried away and tried to kill him, but the Master Key protected him. I tried to take it from him, but I couldn't even touch it, so in the end I settled for just asking him to give me the gems from the handle."

"After you tried to kill him?" asked Lina.

"We made up," explained Ryoko. "I decided he was too cute to kill, so I figured I'd be his girlfriend instead." She laced her fingers behind her head as she spoke, describing her logic as if it was the most natural decision in the world. "Then that tramp Ayeka came along looking for her long-lost brother slash fiancé Yosho, and kidnapped Tenchi instead, since he was the holder of the Master Key. I had to come to the rescue, of course, but in the process, I destroyed Ayeka's ship. Not a bad thing, really, but Tenchi felt sorry for her being stranded on a strange planet thousands of light-years from home, so he let her stay with him. In the same house, can you believe it? That stuck-up bitch."

"And where were you staying all this time?" Ranma asked semi-innocently.

Ryoko cleared her throat and selectively ignored the question. "So Ayeka naturally decided to make a move on Tenchi (after all, he IS quite a hunk of man), and every time I tried to screw things up, he took her side for some reason. So I got tired of it, and since Tenchi had been kind enough to restore one of my gems -" she demonstratively held up her left arm to show them the stone "- I figured I'd put it to good use and summon a water demon to destroy Ayeka and win Tenchi's heart once and for all."

"The poor guy," said Ranma. "There's nothing good about having girls fighting over you."

"Wasn't going to be much of a fight," said Ryoko. "The demon was supposed to just tear her to pieces and vanish. But I wasn't used to having so little power." She sighed. "Turns out the gem on my left wrist is only the summoning gem. I need the gem on my right wrist to control the demons I summon."

"You shouldn't have used powers you couldn't control," Lina lectured her.

"Hey, I said it was a mistake!" snapped Ryoko. "It's not my fault Tenchi never gave me the other two gems! He just doesn't trust me for some reason!"

"Can't imagine why," mumbled Ranma.

"So there we were," Ryoko continued, "fighting the water demon, when Tenchi finally showed up with the Master Key and started fighting it. But even the Master Key couldn't hurt it. The only thing that will stop that demon is the controlling gem." She pointed to the Master Key. "That's when Chronite showed up. Everything stopped where it was except for me, like time was frozen. Then he took the Master Key out of Tenchi's hands and told me that if I could kill the Sailor Scouts, he'd give me the other two gems and I'd be able to save Tenchi. Getting my full power back is just a side effect, really!"

Lina's angry expression softened. "I guess that makes sense. Maybe you're not all selfish."

Ryoko snorted indignantly. "You're so quick to condemn me... maybe you're really the selfish one. Have you got some kind of secret or something?"

"No way!" Lina protested.

Ryoko grinned. "That sounds like a yes to me," she declared with satisfaction.

Lina seemed to be on the verge of letting go a torrent of some yet unidentifiable emotion, but Ranma quickly shushed her. "Someone's coming," he hissed.

Ryoko floated to the ground and turned around as a young woman stepped out of the darkness with a deep scowl on her face. "Who are you supposed to be?" asked Ryoko, staring the new arrival up and down. "Little Miss Muffet?"

"You will address me as QUEEN Beryl, thank you very much," Beryl said smugly, beaming with muted pride at the fact that her temporary generals hadn't recognized her.

The other three goggled. "Queen Beryl?" Lina repeated incredulously.

"What happened to you?" asked Ranma. "You look... cute."

The scowl returned. "You needn't worry about the details. You have a mission to carry out, and I am VERY displeased with your progress."

Ranma and Lina gulped nervously. Ryoko picked up her legs and floated in place, arms akimbo. "Not my fault they suddenly learned to fight," she murmured.

Beryl's eyes focused on Lina. "You had the perfect chance to kill Sailor Venus," she spat, "and yet you let her get away. And you have destroyed your disguise, and ruined all the effort I put into securing you a place at Grass Valley Junior High School. All that work wasted, and for what? The Sailor Scouts are all still alive!"

"I'm meeting Sailor Mercury tonight -" Ranma began helpfully.

"That is your own business," Beryl snapped, cutting him off. "I don't think I need to remind you of what will happen if you fail again." She turned to Lina. "You, on the other hand...."

Lina's eyes widened in horror as Beryl slowly reached toward the crystal in which Gourry was trapped. Suddenly, she fell to her knees, grabbing Beryl's skirt. "Please, not Gourry! You can't!"

"I've put up with your failures long enough," said Beryl. "You'll have to learn eventually that I don't give second chances forever. And without your disguise, you're useless to me anyway. I'll have Chronite send you back to your own world once I've taught you why you should have obeyed me."

"You know I can't betray you!" pleaded Lina. "Don't forget about the contract! I'm your eternal servant! You don't need to kill Gourry!"

Ranma and Ryoko's jaws dropped. "WHAT?"

Beryl's finger halted less than an inch from the crystal. "Ah, yes. The contract. I suppose there is that... but you haven't held up your end of the deal so far, have you?"

"I'll do better, I swear! Just please, don't kill Gourry!" Lina unthinkingly wiped her tears on Beryl's skirt, hiking it up just high enough to give Ranma and Ryoko a view of her panties.

Beryl angrily snatched the skirt away from Lina, a menacing blue glow shining brightly through her shirt. It took several long moments for the glow to fade. "Very well," she said impatiently. "I will give you one final chance. But this is the end of it. If you fail again, I will destroy the crystal without hesitation, contract or no!" She gave one final sniff of disapproval, then turned and strode calmly away, her hips swaying provocatively under the cover of her miniskirt. But nobody noticed, as their attention was fully focused on Lina. No longer even able to stay up on her knees, she fell onto her hands, tears abundantly replacing the ones she'd wiped away before.

Ranma hesitantly approached her, his hands hovering above her shoulders as he tried to decide whether to touch her or not. "Um, Lina... what was that about a contract?"

Lina turned to stare up at him as if she'd forgotten he was there. "Oh, no! I... it's just...."

"It's not hard to understand," Ryoko said flatly. "She sold herself to Beryl. NOW who's the selfish one around here?"

Lina spun around and glared at Ryoko through her moist eyes. "It's not like that!"

"Gee, where have I heard THAT one?" Ryoko asked mockingly.

"I'M NOT LIKE YOU!" screamed Lina, her voice dying toward the end of the sentence as her throat began to burn. "I never asked for any of it!"

Ranma diplomatically stepped forward, reaching for her. "Hey, it's okay. Just take it easy...."

Lina batted his hand away. "Don't pretend to feel sorry for me! Just leave me alone!" A portal opened behind her, and she turned and ran through it. It snapped shut before Ranma could even start to follow her.

He turned to Ryoko in frustration. "Come on! We've gotta go after her!"

Ryoko merely shrugged. "Go where? It's not like she told us where she was going. Besides, you heard her. She doesn't want us to follow her anyway."

"But we have to!" Ranma insisted. "Something's bothering her, and I have to find out what it is."

"She'll tell you when she's good and ready," said Ryoko. "My guess is it's not something you want to hear anyway. Besides, what do you care about her for? You've already got a girlfriend, right?" She pointed at the crumbling crystal that held Akane. "Just let Lina do what she wants, and if you're lucky, Beryl won't blame you for her failures by association."

"But we understood each other so well," moaned Ranma, clasping his hands into weak fists as if to hold his relationship with Lina together. "Why does she think she's gotta keep this thing to herself?"

"I'm not the Loveline," replied Ryoko. "But I am a woman, and I know when a woman wants a man to keep out of her business. Just let it go for now. She'll come back when she wants to."

"I can snap her out of this," he insisted. "I can help her."

"No offense, but you're about the last person she wants to see right now," Ryoko contradicted him. "She's obviously ashamed of whatever it is that made her run away. Nobody wants to be seen like that, especially not by someone they care about."

Ranma stared at her, not sure which question to ask first. "How come you know so much about this?"

"Well, as a former Space Pirate, I've got a lot to be ashamed of," explained Ryoko. "It was okay to be proud of my accomplishments when I only cared about myself, because I always did what was best for me. But when I met Tenchi, I suddenly wanted him to be proud of me, and I knew how much he would hate all the horrible things I'd done in my past. I've been trying to forget about my pirate days ever since."

"Has it worked?" asked Ranma.

Ryoko shrugged. "Maybe. Can't say until I see Tenchi again."

Ranma nodded. "So why are you telling me all this?"

Ryoko suddenly seemed to get defensive. "What, I can't give people advice?"

"You don't seem like that type to me," replied Ranma. "No offense."

Ryoko crossed her arms indignantly. "Well, it just so happens that I'm tired of your constant angst, and I figure maybe if I can help you patch things up with Lina, you might stop whining about how miserable your lives are so I can get a little peace."

"We're not like that!" snapped Ranma. "We're just friends!"

"And the third also doth protest too much," said Ryoko triumphantly.

"Huh?"

"Never mind," she replied with a wink. "Just trust me and leave Lina alone. Once she gets over it, she'll be back and practically begging to tell you her dirty little secret."

Ranma couldn't hold back a blush. "I really don't think it's anything like that...."

"Of course not," Ryoko teased him, rubbing a finger under his chin. "Just keep telling yourself that." She started to float away, but turned back as a thought occurred to her. "By the way, if you're planning to practice flying again, you might want to move away from the crystals. No telling what effect a buildup of energy might have on them."

"Good idea, thanks," said Ranma, letting the energy he'd been collecting die down as he sheepishly retreated into the darkness.

Ryoko watched him go and sighed to herself. "He really doesn't get it, does he?" Whether she meant his situation with Lina or her real motivation for helping him, she had no idea. But he certainly wasn't going to last long if he kept going the way he was. She looked down at Akane's decaying crystal and frowned. No, not long at all....


	18. 17: Amy's Desperate Situation

A General Time Paradox

Chapter 17: Amy's Desperate Situation

"... So they're not really bad people," finished Mina, ending her brief summary to the Study Buddies of what she'd learned from Lina before the battle. "They're fighting to save the people they love from Queen Beryl, just like we are."

"Do you think we can trust them?" asked Lita. "After all, they ARE working for Beryl."

"We can trust them," affirmed Serena. "They had a perfect opportunity to kill me and Sailor Venus, and they didn't."

"Maybe they wanted to let you two lead them to the rest of us," suggested Lita.

"That wouldn't make much sense," Amy pointed out. "We've shown that we can stand up to them quite well when we fight together. Their best tactic would be to split us up and fight us separately, as they did today."

"They wanted to kill us," added Serena. "But I guess they felt indebted to us because I healed Lina when she was about to die."

"You did WHAT?" asked Lita. "Why are you helping them?"

"Just because they're trying to kill us doesn't give us the right to do the same," countered Serena. "No matter how bad the situation is, nobody has to die to make it right."

"Well, with an attitude like that, we're the only ones who are going to die," said Lita.

"I think Serena has a point," observed Amy. "As I've said before, everyone we've fought is much more powerful than we are. I think that if they really were trying to kill us, we would already be dead. However, if they don't really want to fight us, then they might be allowing us to live, no matter how much stronger they are."

Lita nodded. "That all makes sense, but...." She paused. "Wait, that's exactly what I feel! Why am I arguing? That's Raye's job!" She turned to Raye, who was sitting at a corner of the table with her arms crossed, pointedly avoiding looking at anyone else. "Raye? Is something wrong?"

"You're unusually quiet today," said Amy. "Ever since your grandfather pointed out how strange it was to see you up and about, you haven't said a word."

"It's not just that," added Mina. "Ever since I mentioned Lina, you've been really dark and broody."

"Yeah," put in Serena. "What's up with you tonight?"

"I didn't want to burst you guys' bubble," Raye said at last, "but you're wrong."

"About what?" asked Serena.

"About our enemies," replied Raye. "They're evil."

Mina's jaw dropped in shock. "What? No way! I know Lina was telling the truth!"

"No offense, but you were friends with her before that," Raye pointed out. "You probably just aren't willing to accept that she's your enemy now. But I felt the evil within her even when we first met."

"Are you absolutely sure about that?" asked Amy. "You seem to be the dissenting opinion here."

Raye nodded firmly. "I know what I felt. Mina may be in tune with people's emotions, but I can sense their spirits. And Lina's spirit is wrapped in a cloak of darkness. She may not be evil herself, but evil controls her. And that control is a lot more direct than holding someone hostage."

"Is that true of the others, then?" asked Serena.

Raye shook her head. "I didn't sense the same thing about the others. Not even the one we fought today. It was just Lina. But considering that she's the one who made up that story, I doubt we can trust any of them."

"No!" shouted Mina. "She was telling the truth! I know it! And I'm not just hoping, either!"

"Keep your voice down!" warned Raye. "Do you want my grandpa to hear you?"

Mina meekly sagged. "Sorry. But I would know if Lina was lying to me."

"Maybe you're both right," suggested Lita. "Maybe she is trying to save someone, but she's still being controlled by that dark power Raye mentioned."

Mina rubbed her neck. "I guess so. I can't feel people's spirits like Raye can. All I know is what's in their hearts."

Raye shook her head. "No, that's not it either. The darkness has a complete hold on Lina's spirit - a hold that's far too strong to have been imposed by force. Whatever is controlling her, she gave herself to it willingly. That much, I can tell you without question."

"Geez, lighten up, Raye!" said Serena. "You're so moody!"

"I just don't want to see any of you hurt because you trust our enemies too much," said Raye. "They're dangerous people, all of them."

"Well, whether they're evil or just victims isn't what's important," Amy pointed out. "We have to figure out what to do next in either case. We need to defeat our enemies without killing them, if we can."

"That's easy for you to say," returned Serena. "It's hard enough not getting killed ourselves!"

"But we have a new technique that may prove effective," Amy reminded her.

"If we can get our opponents to stand still long enough," added Raye. "That combination attack you taught us takes a long time to perform."

Amy sighed. "That is one disadvantage. It also requires all five of us to work properly, so we wouldn't be able to split up. But the stopping power is worth the preparation it requires. The Combined Tiara Magic should be able to penetrate any enemy barrier, no matter how effective it is otherwise."

"Well, that is handy," agreed Lita. "We'd even be able to stop Ryoko with an attack like that."

"Like she'd wait for us to pull it off," said Raye darkly.

Amy scratched her chin. "Hmmm.... I suppose there are a few problems left to be worked out." She glanced at her watch. "Unfortunately, I don't really have time to work on them right now. I promised to meet Ranko at the library to study tonight."

The other girls' eyes narrowed. "Are you sure that's a good idea?" asked Mina. "You said she was a new girl who arrived at the same time as Amelia, right? That means she could be... on the other side." She'd had to catch herself before the word 'enemy' could slip out. She would NOT think of them as enemies, no matter what Raye said!

Amy shook her head. "I don't think so. I have a good feeling about Ranko."

"No offense," said Mina, "but I had a good feeling about Amelia too. And my good feelings are alw- usually right," she corrected herself, glancing at Raye.

"You haven't met Ranko," Amy pointed out. "Three of us have, and I don't think any of us would suspect her of anything."

"Well..." Lita began. "She WAS there last night, right before Ranma attacked me."

Mina scoffed. "You can't be serious! Ranma's a boy! He couldn't possibly disguise himself as Ranko!"

"But she might have told Ranma where I would be," explained Lita.

"Did Ranko know that you're a Sailor Scout?" asked Amy.

"I don't know. She might have. I mean, Lina figured out that Mina is Sailor Venus, didn't she? Maybe they've got some sort of Planet Power detecting gizmo."

Amy shook her head. "Even in the days of the Silver Millennium, human science wasn't capable of creating a machine that could detect the presence of Planet Power. And in those days, the Sailor Scouts were in their Scout forms all the time. We were born into these disguises for our protection, so it only makes sense that our Planet Power should be even more difficult to detect while we're in our normal identities."

"But hasn't science advanced a lot since then?" asked Lita.

"And our enemies are from another world," Mina added, belatedly biting down on the word she'd been trying to avoid using. "They might have access to technology that we don't."

"There is that," Amy agreed. "Perhaps some extra caution is in order."

"I'll go with you to the library," said Mina. "I'll be able to tell if Ranko is on their side or not."

"I don't know whether we can trust your people sense any more," said Raye. "After all, you were wrong about Lina."

Mina chewed on her lip to stifle her reply.

"Why don't we all go?" suggested Serena. "That way, if Amy gets attacked -"

"We'll all be marked as Sailor Scouts by association," finished Raye. "That's no good. We can't let them know who we are - at least, those of us who haven't already been found out. If we show up, we'll have to already be in our Sailor Scout outfits."

"But we can't go with Amy in our sailor fuku!" protested Serena.

"We'll have to keep our distance and wait to see what happens," assessed Mina. "If Ranko turns out to be one of them, then we'll step in to stop her. And if everything goes well, we can just leave the two of you alone."

"You'll have to hold your own until we can get there," said Lita, "but we'll be there a lot sooner."

Amy nodded. "I'll feel much safer with you guys nearby."

"Right," agreed Raye. "We won't be caught off guard this time."

The sound of Raye's grandfather clearing his throat in the doorway caught their attention. "How is the studying coming along, girls?" he asked.

Raye scowled. "Grandpa, I thought I asked you not to interrupt us while we're studying!"

"Well, yes," he acknowledged apologetically, "but these two young ladies were quite insistent that you'd asked them to tutor your group today." He stepped aside to let the two high school-age girls enter the room. "You never mentioned you had such attractive friends."

"Hands off, buster," said the dirty blonde in a husky voice as she double-stepped to keep her rump out of reach of his grope. "I'm not your type."

The aqua-haired woman gasped audibly and jumped, not having been quite fast enough to avoid the pinch.

Raye slammed her fists on the table. "Grandpa! What do you think you're doing?"

Raye's grandfather bowed his head in shame. "I apologize. I don't know what came over me. Please enjoy our hospitality, honored guests." He shuffled backwards out of the room, muttering something barely coherent about lost youth and natural urges.

Amy waited until he was out of earshot before speaking. "I presume you two are Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune?" she asked.

"That's right," replied the girl who doubled as Sailor Neptune. "But you'd probably better call me Michelle for now. My partner is Amarah."

The girls sitting around the table nodded in unison. "Nice to meet you," said Mina. "I'm Mina, and these are -"

"Skip the introductions," said Amarah as she familiarly took a place at the table. "We know who you are."

This time, Amy was the only one who nodded, while her friends merely looked very confused. "I think I understand," she announced. "You mentioned a paradox during the fight against Mewtwo, which would only make sense if you had come from the future."

Amarah recoiled at this revelation, but Michelle smiled. "That's right. You don't miss much, do you?"

"Watch what you say to them!" hissed Amarah. "We can't let them know too much!"

"So you guys are really from the future?" asked Raye. "How far in the future?"

"We can't say," Amarah said quickly. "We can't tell you anything about the future, except that it depends on all of you staying alive, at least until we can get this whole thing with people from other dimensions sorted out."

"The future's always depended on us," replied Lita. "We're the only ones who can fight Beryl and her army. At least, until you two showed up."

Michelle shook her head. "I'm afraid we won't be able to help you in that battle," she said. "But the problem is that, in the future we came from, the enemies you're fighting now never existed. But our past is being rewritten, and we have to make it merge with the past that we know."

"But that's not possible!" protested Amy. "You can't change the past!"

"I guess we're not really CHANGING the past," Amarah conceded. "More like adding a new chapter to it. The stuff that happens before and after doesn't change, but this new stuff is happening in between. Sort of like freeze-framing existence, fighting a few battles in the meantime, then putting everything back where it was so that when you hit PLAY again, no one notices that anything happened."

"But even the tiniest changes will cause ripples that will unavoidably alter the future," Amy pointed out.

"Well, we can't let that happen," replied Amarah. "If it does, those cracks you saw today will tear the universe apart."

"So you mean what we've been seeing are potential paradoxes?" asked Raye.

"That's right," said Michelle. "So far, we've been able to avert the paradoxes before they become irrevocable. But if any of you were to die, it would be the end. And there may be other, possibly very subtle changes that would be equally terminal."

"Yipes!" shrieked Serena. "That's serious!"

"Yes it is," agreed Michelle, schooling her expression. "But Chaucer also displays quite an admirable wit. Consider chapter nine...."

The other girls merely stared at her blankly. However, before any of them could express their confusion verbally, Raye's grandfather set a tray down on the table. "Sorry to bother you again," he apologized, "but I thought our lovely young guests might like some tea and cookies." He winked slyly.

"Aren't they a little young for you?" grumbled Raye.

Amarah cleared her throat. "Thanks for the snacks, old man. But before you get too comfortable with us, we're engaged."

"Oh, really?" asked Raye's grandfather, hopefully interested. "To whom?"

"Each other."

He stared at the two of them in disbelief for a few seconds, then shook his head sadly and left the room. "It figures," he muttered. "It's always the cute ones...."

Raye nodded, impressed. "That's one way to get rid of him."

"You WERE just joking, right?" asked Mina.

"Do I look like I joke?" retorted Amarah.

Mina blinked. "Ooooooooooooookay. Let's talk about something else."

"There's nothing else to say," said Amarah, abruptly standing up. "We've told you what we came here to say. Watch what you do and keep yourselves alive."

"But what about our questions?" asked Raye. "Who are these people we're fighting? Why are they attacking us? Are they evil, or are they being forced to do it?"

"They all have their own reasons," replied Michelle. "We don't claim to know them all personally."

"Oh," said Mina, crestfallen. "But that means that some of them could just be innocent victims!"

"I suppose that could be true," conceded Michelle, sensing the motive behind Mina's statement. "But it is difficult to call those who are trying to kill you innocent."

"My thoughts exactly," said Raye.

Amarah cleared her throat meaningfully. "Look, the point is, don't get too close to anybody. We don't know who you can trust and who you can't, but it's better to make the safe mistake and not trust someone who's really not your enemy, rather than opening yourself up for an attack."

"I know that," agreed Mina. "But it's hard to turn away a friend, even if you know they might try to kill you if you don't."

"It's hard to believe the warriors who keep this planet safe have such pitiful survival instincts," said Amarah. "Sometimes I wonder if it's even worth saving you guys. We could probably just replace you with Sailor Scouts who know what they're doing...."

"Don't be so hard on them, Amarah," urged Michelle. "They still haven't had much time to settle into their roles. They'll become stronger emotionally as their power grows."

Amy took her cue from that statement. "If you're from the future, you know about our future powers, don't you? Please, tell us how we can achieve them!"

Amarah shook her head firmly. "No. Forget about it. That's one of the things that could cause a paradox. And it's probably best if you don't use that combined attack anymore either."

"Why not?" asked Raye. "Nothing happened when we used it earlier."

"Right now, we're at a more liberal point in the timeline," offered Michelle. "The rules for what constitutes a paradox are much looser than they will be later. But when this period ends - and we have no idea when that will be - using your combined attack will be forbidden."

Mina sighed. "And that was going to be our ace in the hole, too."

"Why is it forbidden, exactly?" asked Amy.

"We can't tell you," replied Amarah. "But it would interfere with what has to happen in the future."

"What has to happen?" repeated Raye.

"We've said too much," Michelle quickly put in. "I think Amarah's right. We should leave before we say something we shouldn't." She stood up and followed Amarah to the door.

"Wait!" called Lita. "What about our next battle?"

Amarah turned back and smiled. "We'll be there. And from now on, we'll be right there with you guys. No point hiding anymore, now that you know about us."

"But don't get any ideas about trying to reach our power level," advised Michelle. "Your bodies, and the universe, can't handle it yet."

Amy grudgingly nodded. "We understand."

"Good. We'll see you soon." The Outer Scouts waved and left the room.

Raye crossed her arms. "Well, they couldn't have been any less helpful."

"They're right, you know," said Amy. "It's not wise to know too much about our future."

"This isn't some kind of moralistic movie," Raye pointed out. "We're talking about our lives and the fate of the world here! Every bit of information we get could mean the difference between life and death!"

"But not in the order you might think," countered Amy. "If you knew that something bad was going to happen in the future, you might try to change it. That's where paradoxes come from."

"That's also why I made it to Mewtwo in time to save you guys," retorted Raye.

"Visions of things that haven't happened yet are one thing," replied Amy. "News from time travelers is something else entirely. That would be a certainty, and probably not one you'd want to face."

"Guys?" interjected Lita. "Maybe this isn't the best time to argue."

Amy and Raye blushed.

"You know, we forgot to tell them about tonight's plan," said Mina.

Raye gave a start. "Shoot, you're right! We could really use their help!"

"But we don't know how to contact them," said Amy. "I suppose we'll just have to trust them to find us when the time comes."

Raye groaned. "I hate depending on chance."

"They'll be there," asserted Serena. "I know we can trust them."

"Didn't they just say we're not supposed to trust ANYONE?" Raye noted sarcastically. Nobody bothered to laugh or glare at her.

Amy stood up. "Excuse me, everyone. It's time for me to go meet Ranko."

"We'll transform once we get outside and follow you at a safe distance," said Serena.

Amy smiled. "Thanks, guys."

"Hey, we know what it's like to show up expecting to see a friend and find an enemy instead," said Mina. "We're behind you all the way."

With a warm feeling in her heart, Amy turned to the door, only to bump into Raye's grandfather as he strolled into the room. "Sorry, my dear," he apologized. "I was just coming to check on our gue- they're gone!" He gasped and ran to the table, peering behind it as if expecting to find someone hiding there. "Where'd they go?"

"They left already," said Raye. "It was just a five-minute session."

Raye's grandfather's shoulders slumped. "They didn't even say goodbye... such ungrateful girls. I tell you, the youth of today...."

"They really weren't your type," Raye reminded him bluntly. "They're lesbians."

"I tell you, the youth of today..." he repeated as he left the room.

Amy couldn't dispel the goofy expression from her face. "Tell me again why we always meet here?"

*************************************************

Amy rounded the corner of the school building, emerging into the wide courtyard where lunchtime and after-school sports generally took place. Of course, it was devoid of activity at this late hour. Not many students took advantage of the library's after-school hours, and it was generally left to the honor system after five o'clock, when even the librarian went home, leaving the building open to any student with an honor pass. Amy quickly crossed the courtyard, trying to stay in the light from the street lamps as much as possible. It gave her pause to think that she'd walked alone at night in her old neighborhood without fear many times, and had felt even safer since discovering that she was a Sailor Scout. However, she was more nervous than ever, and for the first time, she wished that she were just an ordinary girl visiting the library for an innocent study meeting.

That sentiment doubled as she heard the male voice from the darkness ahead. "You look cold."

Indeed, she was trembling from head to toe, but she forced herself to stand firm. The other Sailor Scouts would be there any second. "Ranma Saotome!" she squeaked. Well, her voice had cracked, but it had certainly been loud enough to carry to the others.

Ranma stepped into the light, blinking in surprise. "You know, for a second there, I was beginning to think maybe you weren't Sailor Mercury. But only a Sailor Scout would know me by that name."

Amy gasped as she realized her mistake. But it didn't matter anymore. She pulled out her wand and prepared to transform.

Ranma knocked the wand out of her hand before she could even open her mouth. "Sorry, Amy, but I can't let you do that. You'll be a lot harder to kill if I let you turn into Sailor Mercury."

Amy slowly backed away, no longer able to hide her nervousness. "You wouldn't..." she stalled. Where WERE the others? They should have been at her side as soon as Ranma had appeared!

Ranma lunged forward, grabbing her arm even though she'd thought she was well outside his reach. "I have to tell you, I really don't want to do this. But I don't have a choice anymore. My time's running out." He pulled her in close, twisting her arm until it felt like it would break.

Amy cried out as she lost her balance, causing her arm to twist even further as she fell to her knees. Ranma spun her around, pulling both arms up behind her back, and wrapped his arm around her neck, choking her. "Just give up," he advised her. "It's just going to hurt more if you fight."

Amy shifted her weight suddenly, hoping to throw him off balance, but his grip was stronger than what little force she could apply. She kicked at him, but without leverage, she couldn't hit him hard enough to dislodge him. She was helpless, just as she had been when Mewtwo had caught up with her, but this time her captor was determined to kill her as quickly as possible. Why hadn't the others shown up yet?

Suddenly, the sky above the library burst into flame with a loud boom. She heard Ranma chuckle softly. "Sounds like your friends have come to the rescue. I kind of figured you'd have bodyguards tonight. So we set up a little ambush for them." He squeezed just a bit harder, drawing a weak gurgle from her throat. "They're not going to make it in time to save you."

Amy strained to breathe, but it only made her throat burn even more. Her heartbeat pounded in her ears as she began to feel the familiar sensation of suffocation - her lungs ached, her muscles were limp, and her mind was racing, focusing on everything other than her impending death. Her friends - they had to still be alive, but there was no way they'd reach her in time. She was going to die that way, alone and useless.

No! She couldn't just die! She had to think of something! She tugged at her arms, trying to free at least one of them, but Ranma's left hand held both of her wrists firmly. "W-why?" she croaked weakly.

His grip relaxed slightly, just enough for her to take in a quick gasp of air before he restored his chokehold. "One of you has to die tonight," he whispered. "I don't really care which one it is, but since you're the one I've got my hands on, the choice is pretty easy."

That didn't sound like the innocent Ranma Mina had been advocating at the meeting earlier! Then again, he'd said at the beginning that he didn't want to kill her.... What did it all mean? How did the pieces fit together? What was the truth that the Outer Scouts couldn't tell her?

She hoped Ranko was all right. The last thing she needed was for Ranko to show up and get involved in this fight.

Where had that come from?

Another explosion shook the earth.

She wasn't thinking straight. Her mind was wandering. She had to stay focused!

What was her mother going to say when she turned up late for dinner? She should have called before leaving Raye's house.

Focus!

Black....

FOCUS! Fo....

....

....

There was an intense wave of heat, and something hard hit her in the face, slamming against the entire front of her body. Her lungs heaved, and she took in far too much air at once. She felt herself wobbling on her feet, but she didn't realize that she was already lying flat on the ground until a pair of hands grabbed her shoulders and pulled her up. Before she could thank her rescuer, she was spun around and slammed into a brick wall face first. "I tried to make it quick and painless," said Ranma, "but it looks like I have to do it the hard way."

"Amy, hang on!" shouted an indistinct voice. "We'll save you!"

"Don't worry, Ranma!" returned a much more strained voice. "We'll hold them off until you finish her!"

No, she begged silently. Save me....

She was spun around again, and the wall pounded her left side. Her arm went numb, but she could still feel a tiny trickle of warm moisture running down its length. Then there was a sharp blow to the side of her head, and stars danced in the darkness that passed for her vision.

Suddenly, Ranma was pulled bodily away, and a different hand grabbed her good arm, helping her stand upright. "Amy! Are you okay?" asked Sailor Venus.

Amy tried to nod, but her head felt like it was full of water. She must have hit the bricks harder than she'd thought. Maybe a nod wasn't the appropriate response at all.

"VENUS CRESCENT BEAM SMASH!" shouted Venus, producing a bright flash in front of Amy's eyes. "Hey, hurry up and transform! I don't know how much longer we can hold them off!"

"I can't," admitted Amy. "I've lost my wand. I don't know where it is, and I can barely see to find it."

"Don't worry," Venus assured her. "We'll find it. Is it somewhere around here?"

"I think so," replied Amy. "Ranma knocked it out of my hand."

Shadows passed in front of Amy's vision, and she heard something hit Venus hard, knocking her to the ground. "Here's the one that can't fight back!" said Ryoko, drawing her sword. "Doesn't really matter who kills you, as long as the job gets done!"

Amy ducked in anticipation of the sword's swing, but something large plowed into Ryoko and shoved her aside. "Come on, you guys!" shouted Jupiter. "We have to protect Amy! Everyone gather close!"

"No, we need to keep them AWAY from her!" Mars shouted back from somewhere across the courtyard. "Split up and draw them away!"

"Someone try to find Mercury's wand!" added Venus. "Hurry!"

Amy reeled, leaning against the wall for support. Her vision was starting to clear, but the barrage of sounds from all directions was giving her a headache; of course, the fact that her head had been rammed into a few walls didn't help much. She felt bad leaving the other Scouts to fight for themselves, especially when they had to protect her at the same time, but it was all she could do to stand up, let alone do something to help her friends. If she could become Sailor Mercury, there might be a chance, but that was becoming more unlikely by the second.

With one final blink, Amy managed to clear her eyes enough that she could see Jupiter and Venus standing in front of her, facing down Lina and Ryoko. "Just concentrate on the one who can't transform," advised Lina. "Once we finish her, Ranma's fiancée will be safe, and we can get out of here."

"I've gotta admit, these girls can put up a fight," said Ryoko. "But it's over now!" She swung her sword, forcing both Jupiter and Venus to leap out of the way. "Now!"

Lina took aim at Amy through the newly created gap. "BURST RONDO!"

Amy watched the hundreds of bursts of light approach with fear in her eyes, too weak to move out of the way. Thinking quickly, she used that weakness to her advantage, letting herself fall to the ground as the Burst Rondo shattered the wall she'd just been standing in front of. Unfortunately, that left her prone and unable to move as Lina adjusted her aim and fired a second salvo. Amy closed her eyes and waited for the impact that would surely kill her.

It never came. An arm wrapped around her waist, and she was picked up. She heard Sailor Jupiter groan in pain as the first few shots hit her before she could jump clear of the blast zone. But they managed to make it to safety, and Amy grabbed Jupiter's waist tightly as the Scout sped up to stay a step ahead of Ryoko. The energy blade slashed at the air behind them, scraping Amy's legs on several passes and drawing blood twice. The wounds stung, but the pain wasn't nearly enough to make her cry out.

Suddenly, a beam lanced from the sky, exploding on contact with Ryoko's shield. Ryoko spun off to the side, allowing Jupiter to gain some distance. She stopped and spun around to see who had saved her, but the sight was such a shock that she dropped Amy onto the ground. The creature that descended from the sky was even taller than Mewtwo, but its skin was lime green, with triangular olive speckles from head to toe. It had two arms and legs, but there the similarities to the human form ended. Its waist seemed to be a mere orange band connecting its upper half to its lower, and a long tail protruded from the center of its back, beneath what appeared to be a pair of immobile black wings. The tail curled like a snake all the way to the hypodermic-like spike at its end. Its head appeared to have a large boomerang protruding from the forehead, and its face was like that of a mantis, complete with a set of slits where its mouth should have been. It landed lightly on its feet in the center of the courtyard and crossed its arms, facing Ryoko. "I do apologize for my attack," it said in a raspy voice. "But these girls are of no use to me dead."

"I don't get it," whispered Jupiter. "Is he on our side or not?"

"Who do you think you are, pal?" Ryoko asked accusingly.

"My name is Cell," he announced. "I'm told that these girls have a great deal of power, and I want to have it for myself. For that, I'll need them alive until I kill them myself."

"Guess that answers my question," mumbled Jupiter.

Amy quickly stood up, wobbling slightly. "Quick, someone find my wand! I have to help!"

Cell bent down and picked up an object at his feet. "This wand is what gives you your power?" he asked, staring at it. "It doesn't look very special."

Sailor Mars gasped. "Oh no! He's got Mercury's wand!"

Cell snorted and tossed it to Amy. "Here. Do whatever you do with it quickly, so I can get on with killing you."

"Are you crazy?" asked Ryoko. "Once she transforms, she can fight back!"

"That's the idea," replied Cell. "I can't absorb power she doesn't have."

Amy clutched the wand in both hands uncertainly as the other four Scouts gathered around her. "It sounds like he wants me to transform... what should I do?"

"Do it," said Mars. "We'll need all the power we can get to beat him."

Venus nodded. "I can't feel any emotions from him at all, but I'm sure he's not being coerced into fighting us. He WANTS to fight us, and he wants us to be at full power."

"Well, we're going to be!" said Jupiter. "And we're going to win!"

Cell yawned pretentiously. "You might want to hurry this up," he advised. "And everyone who's not a Sailor Scout might want to find a safe place to hide. We wouldn't want any... unexpected casualties."

Ranma sighed with relief as he leapt to the library roof. Lina and Ryoko landed to either side of him. "Man, that was close," he breathed. "I almost had to kill her."

"Weren't you going to?" asked Lina.

Ranma nodded. "Yeah, I would have. I can't let Akane die, no matter what. But if this Cell can kill them for me, then at least my hands are clean."

Ryoko snorted. "What a wuss."

"I notice you're up here with us, Ryoko," Lina pointed out.

"I'm gonna give Cell his fair chance," said Ryoko. "And when he messes up, then I'm gonna finish the job."

Ranma's eyes widened as he returned them to the scene below. "I don't know about that," he declared. "I've never seen an aura as big as his... and I have a feeling he's holding back a lot."

The girls fell silent and turned their attention to what was happening below.

Amy finally finished catching her breath. "I'm ready," she announced, holding her wand over her head. "MERCURY POWER!"

Cell watched in amazement as Amy transformed into Sailor Mercury. "Excellent," he whispered with an evil gleam in his eye. "This power will indeed serve me well."

"I don't like the way he's looking at us," whispered Mars. "It feels like there's a hungry tiger staring at me."

"Just make sure he doesn't try anything before she finishes transforming," returned Venus.

Despite the Sailor Scouts' caution, Cell seemed perfectly content to watch the transformation to its conclusion.

Ryoko placed a foot on the edge of the roof and rolled up an invisible sleeve. "One shot! That's all it'd take to finish her off right now!"

"Better not," warned Ranma. "I think Cell wants them at full strength for a reason."

"Idiot," said Ryoko. "He's going to be dealing with more than he bargains for."

"Maybe not," countered Lina. "Mewtwo was pretty strong, and I have a feeling Cell's even stronger."

The light faded, and Sailor Mercury stepped to the front of the group, showing no sign of her injuries. "Thanks for waiting. I'm ready to fight!" She pointed boldly at Cell. "I'm Sailor Mercury, and we're the Sailor Scouts! Together, we will put an end to your evil!"

Cell hummed and rubbed his chin. "How deliciously heroic. I'm going to enjoy absorbing you."

"'Absorbing?'" repeated Lina. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Ranma shrugged. "Maybe in his own world, it's another word for fighting."

Sailor Venus clenched a fist. "All right, Scouts!" she shouted. "Let's get down and dirty! VENUS CRESCENT BEAM SMASH!" She pointed her finger and fired her beam at Cell, who didn't flinch as the beam struck his body. When the smoke cleared, there wasn't even a mark.

Sailor Moon gasped. "No effect?"

Mars growled. "Don't tell me we're fighting another one of these invincible enemies!" She held her index fingers together and aimed them at Cell. "MARS FIRE IGNITE!"

Cell stood firm as the flames engulfed him. They seemed to take hold at first, but quickly flickered and died, leaving no sign of damage.

"Where does Queen Beryl find these guys?" asked Jupiter.

"Don't give up!" shouted Mercury. "He must have a weakness!"

Sailor Moon pulled her tiara off and held it over her head. "Guys, try the combined attack!"

"But the Outer Scouts said we weren't supposed to use it!" Venus protested.

"I don't think we have a choice," replied Sailor Moon. The others nodded and began to concentrate on their powers.

"By the power of Mercury!" shouted Mercury, sending a stream of blue energy into the discus.

"By the power of Jupiter!" shouted Jupiter, blasting the discus with electricity.

"By the power of Mars!" shouted Mars, adding her fire to the mix.

"By the power of Venus!" shouted Venus, finishing the combination with her love energy.

"And by the power of the Moon," finished Sailor Moon, "let our combined power strike down our enemies! SAILOR SCOUTS COMBINED TIARA MAGIC!" She wound up and hurled the powered-up projectile at Cell. His mouth curled upward in a smile as the attack closed the distance - and then he was no longer in its path. Before the Sailor Scouts could react, Cell had jabbed an elbow into Mercury's back and a foot into the side of Venus' head, sending both girls flying.

"He's behind us!" Jupiter shouted unnecessarily. She spun around, aiming a kick at Cell, but he was behind her even before she'd completed the motion. He swiftly brought his fists down on her head, knocking her to the ground... and several feet INTO the ground. Sailor Mars gaped at the Jupiter-shaped indentation, then took a defensive stance, shaking like a leaf.

Cell snorted. "Is this the power that can hold the world in its grip? What a joke. I'm already tired of this ridiculous game." He reached into the hole and pulled Jupiter out by her neck, her body dangling limply from his hand. He raised his tail above his head, and the needlelike tip gleamed in the dim light from the streetlamps.

"One down," declared Ryoko.

Before Cell could impale Sailor Jupiter, a rose stem embedded itself in his tail. Cell turned to face his new adversary and sneered. "Passing through on your way to a cocktail party?" he taunted. "Do yourself a favor and leave now. You're not the one I'm here to kill."

"Not a chance, you evil creature!" shouted Tuxedo Mask. "If you want to harm the Sailor Scouts, you'll have to fight me first!" He drew his cane and brandished it boldly.

Cell let Jupiter fall from his fingers to collapse in an unceremonious heap on the ground. "Very well," he said slowly. "I doubt you'll be much of a challenge, but you'll do for a warm-up."

Tuxedo Mask charged across the courtyard and swung his cane hard at Cell's head. It broke in half on impact, leaving Cell undamaged.

"Tuxedo Mask, get away from him!" shouted Sailor Moon. "He's too powerful!"

Cell smiled evilly. "Now it's my turn." He slammed a fist into Tuxedo Mask's stomach, then followed it with an elbow to the back of Tuxedo Mask's head as he doubled over in pain. Cell's knee found its mark in his opponent's face, sending the caped crusader flying into the sky. Cell launched himself after Tuxedo Mask and overtook him quickly, then swung his arms and knocked him straight down. Tuxedo Mask was unconscious long before he hit the ground.

"Did you see that?" Ranma asked his partners rhetorically. "I don't think even I could beat that!"

"Just be glad he's on OUR side," said Ryoko.

Cell landed lightly beside the still body of his foe. "Have I proven myself worthy of a fight with the Sailor Scouts now?" he mocked the fallen one. "Well, no matter. I can use the extra energy." He raised his tail and jabbed the tip into Tuxedo Mask's back.

"Tuxedo Mask! No!" screamed Sailor Moon.

As the spectators watched helplessly, a bulge formed at the tip of Cell's tail and moved along the length of the long tube, into Cell's body. Another bulge appeared, then another, as if large chunks of Tuxedo Mask's body were being sucked through a straw. The body began to shrink and wither as Cell continued to absorb it.

Sailor Mars' fingers tensed. "MARS FIRE IGNITE!" she shouted, sending a jet of flame at Cell.

As before, Cell ignored the attack, sucking Tuxedo Mask's body patiently through his tail until it was gone. His task finished, Cell pulled his tail free of the empty pile of clothes and turned toward the Sailor Scouts who were still standing. "Refreshing," he announced as casually as if he'd just finished drinking a can of soda. "So, which one of you will be next?"

  



	19. 18: The Ascension of Cell

A General Time Paradox

Chapter 18: The Ascension of Cell

The silence didn't last very long before Sailor Moon broke it. "TUXEDO MASK!" she screamed, running toward the empty tuxedo that was all that remained of her future husband.

Sailor Mars grabbed at her as she passed, but missed. "Sailor Moon, no!" she shouted in vain as the crying girl fell to her knees and clutched the pile of clothes, cradling them to her chest as if their former occupant were still within.

Mercury sat up and gasped at the numbers suddenly flashing in giant red characters in her visor. It took her a few seconds to find her voice. "His power!" she shouted at last. "He's become even stronger! It's like he added Tuxedo Mask's power to his own!"

"He absorbed him..." Venus realized. "That's what he meant! He's going to try to absorb all of us the same way!" She got up, pressing a hand to her aching side, and stood in front of Jupiter, who was just beginning to stir. "Sailor Moon, get away from him!" she shouted. "Don't let him stab you with his tail!"

Sailor Moon made no move as Cell raised his tail threateningly.

"She's not even paying attention!" said Mars. "She's still in shock over Tuxedo Mask!"

"We don't have time for her to cry!" snapped Venus. "Sailor Mercury, we have to get her out of there!"

"Right!" Mercury stood up unsteadily and raised her arms. "MERCURY BUBBLES SPLASH!"

Ryoko leapt to the edge of the roof, her body tensing as the courtyard below filled with a thick fog. "Damn! They're going to get away!"

Ranma held her back. "If you go down there, you'll be blind," he reminded her. "We'll watch from up here and make sure they can't get away."

"You can't hide from me!" shouted Cell. There was a bright flash, and waves of energy surrounded him, pushing the fog away. In the now clear air, he could clearly see Sailor Mercury right in front of him, staring back in horror as she vainly tried to drag Sailor Moon away. With a smile, Cell clamped a giant hand around her head and lifted her completely off the ground. Her grip on Sailor Moon broke almost instantly, and she found herself dangling helplessly yet again.

"I've decided," announced Cell. "You'll be the first."

Mercury gritted her teeth and reached up to grab Cell's arm in an attempt to free herself, but a sharp, shooting pain in the right side of her chest stopped her short. She looked down to see the tip of Cell's tail embedded in her breast, sucking up her blood faster than it could pour from the wound.

"Sailor Mercury, no!" screamed Venus. "Sailor Moon, pull yourself together! Mercury needs you!"

Sailor Moon didn't respond to Venus' plea. Cell, however, suddenly stopped his absorption and withdrew his tail from Mercury's chest. He lifted the bloody tip to his mouth and licked it, savoring the flavor of her blood. "Yes... I can taste the power within you. Absorbing your energy alone would be a waste." He let Mercury fall from his fingers, and she crumpled to the ground. The tip of Cell's tail suddenly opened like a blooming flower, becoming a wide funnel with a dark, forbidding hole in its center. 

Mercury weakly opened her eyes, coughing up a mouthful of blood as she tried to get her bearings. The next thing she saw was the inside of Cell's funnel, as a strong wind began to pull her toward its gaping mouth. She stretched her arms up and grabbed the sides of the funnel, but the wound in her chest had drained all of her strength. She could offer no resistance as her head and shoulders entered the hole, pinning her arms to her sides. The funnel closed around her, and Cell's powerful tail muscles began to draw her into the tube like a snake ingesting its food.

Lina blanched. "Ew... that's pretty gross."

Ryoko nodded. "Not even the Sailor Scouts deserve THAT."

Venus took aim at Cell's face. "VENUS CRESCENT BEAM SMASH!" she shouted, hitting her mark squarely. Cell ignored the attack.

Mars watched with clenched fists. "I can't attack without hitting Mercury too!" She cupped her hands to her mouth. "Yo, meatball-brain! Wake up and do something!"

Sailor Moon snapped to attention, looking up at the object that was casting its shadow on her. The last traces of Mercury's skirt vanished into Cell's tail as she watched, while Mercury continued to kick hopelessly at the air. Sailor Moon immediately leapt to her feet and grabbed Mercury's ankles, pulling as hard as she could. "Hang on, Sailor Mercury!" she shouted. "I won't let you go!"

"Be careful, you idiot!" warned Mars. "You'll get sucked in too!"

Sailor Moon continued to hold on while Cell sucked in Mercury's thighs, then her calves, only barely letting go before the funnel closed around the soles of Mercury's boots. She leapt forward and threw her arms around the base of Cell's tail, trying to stop the bulge that contained Mercury from merging with Cell's body.

With one final grunt of exertion, Cell pulled Mercury's body right through Sailor Moon's arms and into himself. Sailor Moon backed away, staring at the base of his tail, as Cell's entire body began to glow brightly. The light faded within moments, revealing that Cell's skin had changed to a deep blue that reflected the faint light in the courtyard like waves on the surface of a pool. He looked down at himself, enjoying what he saw. "Hmmm... not bad at all. Not as powerful as the fighters in my world, but the elemental power will be of considerable use to me. And when I absorb the rest of their powers...." He looked up at the massed Sailor Scouts with an eager gleam in his eyes.

Sailor Moon grabbed the tip of Cell's tail and tugged angrily on it. "Give her back, you monster! Give Sailor Mercury back!"

Cell glared disdainfully at her. "You really don't learn very quickly, do you?" He flexed the fingers of his right hand and pointed his palm into her face. A powerful spray of water poured out, throwing Sailor Moon backward. She landed on her back, coughing up the water from her lungs as Cell raised his tail to stab her. "I doubt your power will do me any good. I think I'll just take your life energy instead."

"Sailor Moon, no!" shouted Mars, taking aim at Cell. "MARS FIRE IGNITE!" This time, the flames rolled right over Cell without even touching him.

"Be careful!" warned Jupiter as she finally got to her feet. "You'll hit Sailor Moon too!"

"She's about to die anyway if we don't save her!" Mars pointed out.

Venus pointed a finger in desperation, even though she knew her attack was useless. But before she could fire, a glowing boulder streaked across the courtyard, clipping Cell's tail as it darted downward. The deadly point struck the ground beside Sailor Moon's shoulder, and he looked up to see where it had come from just in time to receive a faceful of Sailor Neptune's water attack. The ball of water carried Cell with it until it splashed against the wall of the school building, where another well-timed attack from Uranus smashed into him and knocked him through the bricks and into a classroom.

"It's the Outer Scouts!" cheered Venus.

Sailor Moon quickly shook off her shock and sat up. "Uranus! Neptune!" she shouted accusingly. "What took you so long? If you'd gotten here sooner, you could have saved Sailor Mercury and Tuxedo Mask!"

"Hey, what do you think we were trying to do?" Uranus shot back. "We were here when that thing first attacked Sailor Mercury, but then you jumped in the way and we couldn't get a clear shot!"

"Sailor Mercury can't be dead," added Neptune. "If she were, there would have been a paradox by now. There must be a way to bring her back, somehow."

The pile of bricks in the classroom shifted as Cell climbed to his feet. "That was quite a display," he said. "Even more power than the rest of them! I'll be sure to make good use of your powers once I absorb them."

As he stepped out into the open, Neptune gasped. "He's not damaged at all!"

"We'll have to attack together," said Uranus, taking a battle stance. "Ready, Neptune?"

"Ready!" The two launched their energy blasts in tandem, sending a pair of projectiles streaking toward Cell. He watched them spiral through the air until the last second, when he leapt smoothly over them and changed directions in midair, making a beeline for the Outer Scouts.

"Look out!" shouted Uranus, too late. Cell was between the Outer Scouts before they could move, swinging his legs to kick both of them at the same time. Sailor Uranus' flight sent her through the wall of the auditorium, while Neptune landed on her back on the blacktop, skidding several feet before coming to a stop. She managed to open her eyes, only to see Cell's funnel bearing down on her.

This time, Sailor Moon leapt to action immediately. "MOON TIARA MAGIC!" she shouted, hurling her attack at Cell. Cell merely knocked the discus aside with his forearm and covered Neptune's head with his tail. She struggled to escape, but the pain in her bruised side quickly drained what little strength she could muster to fight the powerful suction.

Uranus weakly climbed out of the hole in the auditorium wall and gathered energy in her hand. It wasn't much, but it would have to do. "URANUS WORLD SHAKING!" she shouted, sending her attack in Cell's direction. He was so engrossed in his target that he failed to see the attack coming, and it hit him in the back hard enough to knock him off balance. Sailor Neptune popped out of his tail and rolled onto her stomach as she landed.

Uranus tried to prepare a follow-up attack, but she was in severe pain. She fell to one knee, leaning on the rubble from the wall to stay up even that much. "Neptune, run!" she shouted desperately.

Neptune pushed herself up onto her elbows, but a shooting pain in her side stopped her short. "I can't move!" she shouted back. "I think my ribs are broken!"

"We can't let Cell absorb her!" said Mars. She ran toward the monster, with Venus and Jupiter close behind. Cell simply waved his arm at them, and a wave of energy threw them all backward. With those distractions out of the way, he returned his attention to the helpless Neptune. Realizing the futility of trying to stand, Neptune began to crawl away, but she couldn't move quickly enough. Cell lifted his foot and brought it down hard on the small of her back, forcing the air out of her lungs in one blow. She felt the rest of her ribs snap one by one, and then everything went black.

The others watched helplessly as Cell once again covered Neptune's head with his funnel, knowing that their attacks would have no effect. Only Uranus continued to fight, but her weakened body refused to move. "Neptune, hang on!" she shouted, more to herself than to her partner. "I'll save you, somehow!" She sat down heavily and turned her face to the sky. "Sailor Pluto, hurry! Do something! Forget about the Inner Scouts and save Neptune!"

There was no response to Uranus' plea as Neptune's body slid through Cell's tail like a strand of spaghetti.

Uranus pounded the ground uselessly with her fist. "NEPTUNE! DAMMIT, WHY DON'T YOU DO SOMETHING? I KNOW YOU CAN!"

Ryoko snorted. "Hmph. The way she's crying, you'd think those two were married or something."

"This is sick," said Ranma, getting to his feet.

"Nothing wrong with a little healthy love between women," said Ryoko.

"That's not what I mean! He's not just killing them, he's.... I can't just stand here and watch!" He stepped onto the edge of the roof, preparing to jump down, but Lina held him back.

"Just let him do his job, Ranma," she urged him. "Then Akane will be safe, and we can all go home."

Ranma sighed and sat down. "Yeah, you're right. This is what happens when I can't get the job done. But I don't like it."

Down below, Cell pulled Sailor Neptune into his body and began to glow, as his body took on an even deeper shade of aqua. The appearance of water on his skin seemed to penetrate even deeper into his body now, and the reflections were those of a stormy sea rather than calm waves. "Excellent," he declared. "Now I can truly feel the power of water flowing through me." He spread his arms, and four jets of water sprayed from the earth, fountaining several stories into the air and soaking a large area of the courtyard.

"We're never going to beat him at this rate!" shouted Mars. "He's just going to suck us all up one by one and absorb our powers!"

Cell stepped casually out from between the fountains of water and strode toward Sailor Uranus. "Please, don't stop screaming for my sake," he invited. "I want to hear your terror one more time before you join your friend."

"I'll never give you the pleasure!" Uranus spat defiantly, brushing tears from her face angrily.

"Stop right there!" shouted a deep voice from behind Cell. He turned to face a woman almost as tall as himself, sporting long hair that was such a dark shade of green it was almost black, and a sailor fuku with an even darker skirt. "You must stop this at once, before you destroy this entire universe!"

Uranus' eyes grew wide at the sound of the voice. "Pluto... you bitch! Why didn't you save Neptune?"

"It is not my place to interfere in this world," replied Pluto. "Already, I have done too much, and given power to my adversary. But if Cell continues this absorption, the risk will be even greater."

"It really doesn't matter how many of you I absorb," countered Cell. "No power in this universe can stand up to me. The power I acquire here is merely a means to simplify my goal." He raised his arm and fired an energy blast at Sailor Pluto. Without seeming to move, she was suddenly several feet outside the path of the attack. Cell's eyes narrowed. "I see. You have power like his...."

"You cannot absorb me," warned Sailor Pluto. "If I am destroyed, it will throw this entire universe into chaos!"

"As if I care about the fate of this universe!" snorted Cell. "All that matters to me is the power that you and the other Sailor Scouts have!"

"I won't let you lay a finger on any one of them!" shouted Pluto. "PLUTO DEADLY SCREAM!" She leveled her staff at Cell and fired a ball of dark energy at him. Cell easily dodged the attack and retaliated with a ball of his own energy, which Pluto parried with her staff.

Sailor Moon trotted over to where the other Inner Scouts stood, watching the unfolding duel. "Who is that woman?" she asked. "She looks like a Sailor Scout!"

"Uranus called her Sailor Pluto," said Venus. "I wonder why they didn't tell us about her before."

"I don't like the way that fight is going," said Mars. "They're too evenly matched!"

"At least Sailor Pluto's holding her own so far," observed Jupiter. "Maybe she can beat him!"

Deciding that long-range combat was useless, Cell darted in to close range and began to attack Sailor Pluto with his fists and feet, his limbs moving so quickly that not even Ranma could follow them. Sailor Pluto blocked as best she could, but her limited ability to manipulate time wasn't enough to protect her. She countered by swinging her staff at Cell's head, but the blow didn't faze him.

"She's losing!" shouted Sailor Mars. "Cell's going to absorb her too!"

"We can't let that happen!" Uranus shouted across the battlefield. "Sailor Pluto is the Guardian of Time! If Cell controls her power, he'll be unstoppable!"

"Don't do this!" Pluto begged, trying one more time to reason with Cell. "If you absorb me, this universe will be destroyed by the paradox!"

Lina's ears perked up. "Paradox? They mentioned that before."

"You think it's a bluff?" asked Ranma. "I mean, universes don't just blow up, do they?"

"It's not as hard as you think to destroy a universe," Lina pointed out. "I've almost destroyed my own twice. Which is why I'm here, actually...."

Before she could finish her sentence, a lucky strike from Cell's tail sent Pluto's staff spinning across the blacktop. Cell's tail was at her throat before she could blink. "On second thought..." he mumbled, then quickly rammed his tail forward, barely missing Pluto's windpipe. "You're too dangerous an opponent to underestimate." He pulled his tail free, and Pluto fell to her knees, blood gushing from the wound. The tail opened into a funnel, and he positioned it over her head, preparing to absorb her power.

"It's all over if he absorbs her!" shouted Mars. "We have to stop him!"

Uranus stood up, holding the wall for support with one hand while she charged up her attack with the other. "URANUS WORLD SHAKING!"

Cell calmly pointed his palm at the incoming projectile and blasted it with a powerful jet of water, sending it right back at Uranus, who barely managed to fall flat on her face as the stone exploded against the wall above her. The threat dispensed with, he returned to his objective, covering Pluto's head with his tail and beginning to draw her in.

"What are we going to do?" asked Venus. "He's too strong, and he has water powers now!"

"Water powers?" Jupiter's eyes lit up. "Everybody stand back! I have an idea!" As the other Scouts backed away, Jupiter's hair stood on end. She crossed her arms over her chest and raised the antenna of her tiara. "JUPITER THUNDER CRASH!" A bolt of lightning struck her antenna, then arced across the courtyard to Cell. Cell screamed in pain as the electricity shot through his body, and Sailor Pluto shot out of his tail like a bullet. She rolled across the ground and came to a stop not far from Uranus.

Uranus raised her head. "Pluto, you have to get out of here! You can't let Cell absorb your power too!"

"But you and the others..." protested Pluto.

"We'll be in even more danger if Cell absorbs you," Uranus pointed out. "Just get yourself someplace safe and don't worry about us!"

"I'm afraid you're right," agreed Pluto. She raised her arm imploringly toward where her staff had fallen. "Key of Time, to me!"

The staff vibrated at her command, then leapt up and flew toward her. Cell sneered and stretched out a hand to grab it, but a shout of "JUPITER THUNDER CRASH!" from Jupiter sent another bolt of lightning through his body, paralyzing him long enough for the staff to slip through his fingers and into Pluto's. Space wrapped around her, and she vanished.

Cell snarled as he watched his target escape. "It seems I've made a mistake by absorbing the two Sailor Scouts with water elemental powers, giving me a weakness to an electric attack." His eyes focused on Uranus as she tried once again to stand up. "However, the power of earth should be an adequate shield."

Uranus' eyes grew wide as she realized that she was the new object of Cell's attention. She felt a chill as she realized that there was nothing she could do to protect herself, but she was determined to go down fighting. "URANUS WORLD SHAKING!" she shouted, pounding the ground in front of her and sending a boulder streaking toward Cell. He darted around it and landed on her back, knocking the air out of her lungs, then hopped to the ground beside her.

"Sailor Uranus!" shouted Sailor Moon. "Jupiter, you have to do something!"

"I'm on it," Jupiter assured her, charging up another blast. "JUPITER THUNDER CRASH!"

Cell raised his hand at the approaching electricity and shot a giant ball of water at it. The water absorbed the electricity as it crossed the distance, splashing all over Jupiter before she could dodge. Jupiter screamed as the electricity lanced through her body, then collapsed to the ground in a smoking heap.

Seizing advantage of the momentary distraction, Uranus leapt at Cell with her fists raised. Cell spun around and grabbed her wrists in both hands, then pulled them apart, stretching her arms to their limit. His tail appeared above her head, opening to reveal the deadly funnel. With her arms pinned, all she could do was kick at Cell's chest, but he didn't even seem to feel the blows.

Uranus felt the suction from the funnel and knew she didn't have much time left. Thinking quickly, she swung her legs up over her head and braced them on the sides of the funnel. Cell cackled as her feet slipped on the water he'd secreted on the inner surface of the funnel and slid right into the hole. The sides of the funnel closed tightly around her legs and began to draw her in.

Mars fell to her knees and gave Jupiter a vigorous shake. "Come on, wake up! She needs your help!" After a short pause, she shook her head despondently. "No good! She's out cold!"

"We can't just stand here and do nothing!" said Venus. "VENUS CRESCENT BEAM SMASH!" The beam hit Cell with no effect. Venus' hand fell to her side in frustration. "Dammit! We're just not powerful enough!"

"The only one with enough power to hurt Cell is Sailor Uranus!" said Mars. "If he absorbs her, we're as good as dead!"

Uranus groaned as the lip of the funnel crept under her miniskirt, pressing against her hips in a way that reminded her of some of the things Neptune used to do during those long evenings they'd spent together. It was a revolting and terrifying comparison. She did her best to ignore the sensations and grabbed at the tail, prying at the edges in a vain attempt to free herself. Unfortunately, the tail's grip was too tight, and there was no room to use her World Shaking. She briefly considered summoning the Space Sword, but the chilling thought of the universe being torn apart quickly dispelled that idea. There was nothing she could do to prevent Cell from sucking her in.

"It's so interesting to watch you struggle," said Cell pensively. "Perhaps I should absorb more of my victims feet first."

"Shut up!" shouted Uranus as the mouth of the funnel expanded just enough to take in her breasts. She could almost feel Neptune's hands on her, as if her partner were taking charge of her absorption personally.... She looked up at the Inner Scouts with desperation in her eyes. "If you girls are holding out some big plan, now would be a great time to use it!"

Sailor Moon turned to her friends. "What about the combined attack?"

"It's our best shot," agreed Mars. "But we need Mercury for that. And Jupiter's in no condition to -"

"I can do it," groaned Jupiter as she climbed to her hands and knees. Venus hauled her to her feet, and she managed to remain standing under her own power.

"I guess it can't hurt to try," said Venus. "We have to do something."

"All right," said Sailor Moon. She removed her tiara and held it over her head.

"Hurry!" shouted Uranus as Cell's tail pulled her shoulders in, forcing her arms straight.

Jupiter raised her arms determinedly. "By the power of Jupiter!" Electricity surrounded the discus as her power took form, forming a cage in the absence of Mercury's water power.

"By the power of Mars!" shouted Mars, sending fire into the cage. It flared like a star as it wrapped around the discus.

"By the power of Venus!" shouted Venus, covering the discus with white energy.

"And by the power of the Moon," finished Sailor Moon, "let our combined powers strike down our enemies!" The mixture of energies combined into a white light, as it had before, but it was rather dim and pulsated as if preparing to wink out at any second. Wasting no time, Sailor Moon hurled the discus at Cell. "SAILOR SCOUTS COMBINED TIARA MAGIC!"

Cell raised his hand to catch the discus, but even without Mercury's energy in it, the projectile proved stronger than his defense for once. It sliced easily through his hand, chopping his fingers off as it went, then proceeded to tear a hole through his chest before whirling off into the sky.

"All right!" cheered Mars. "We got him!"

Cell stared at the hole in his body with an irritated look. "How inconvenient," he assessed. "No matter." He screwed his eyes shut and tensed his muscles, eliciting another groan from Uranus, this one more pained than pleasure. The exposed edges of the wound bulged outward, pulsating in time with a heartbeat; then, in an instant, spat forth enough material to completely fill the hole. Purple slime dripped from the edges of the newly-healed wound, then vanished as the new green skin changed color to match the rest of Cell's body. Seconds after the attack had torn him open, Cell's chest showed absolutely no sign of damage. He tensed again, and the stumps of his fingers disgorged a new set of digits. "That's better," he said. He curled his new fingers experimentally, nodded with satisfaction, then pulled Uranus the rest of the way into his tail in one smooth motion. Her fingers clutched at the edges for a few final seconds before they were pulled inside.

"It didn't do anything at all?" said Mars incredulously.

"Quick, another combined attack!" ordered Sailor Moon.

"There's no time!" replied Jupiter. "JUPITER THUNDER CRASH!" This time, Cell didn't even bother to counter her attack. Instead, he pulled Uranus into his body before the attack could land, and the white glow of his new transformation pushed the electricity away like a rubber suit. When the light faded, the aqueous surface of Cell's body seemed to be covered with sand-colored speckles.

Sailor Moon covered her mouth with her hand and gasped. "She's gone..." she whispered.

"Looks like it's over for them now," said Lina. "They've lost everyone who had enough power to damage Cell, and even the electricity won't work anymore."

"Not to mention Cell seems to be able to heal himself even if they DO damage him," added Ranma.

Below them, Mars came to the same conclusion. "I hate to say it, you guys, but I don't think there's anything we can do. We'd better run for it and hope we can think of something once we're clear!"

"But Mercury and Tuxedo Mask and the others are still inside Cell!" protested Sailor Moon. "We have to save them!"

"We can't save them if we're dead!" Mars shot back. "I say we all run in different directions and try to lose him."

Venus nodded emphatically. "Maybe Sailor Pluto can catch up with us later, once she's healed."

"But the others!" repeated Sailor Moon.

"Just grab her and get out of here!" said Mars. "We don't have time for her whining!"

Sailor Venus grabbed Sailor Moon by the elbow and ran away from Cell, while Jupiter and Mars took off in different directions.

Cell watched them go with a smile on his face. "So, they plan to divide and escape? I suppose it's a reasonable strategy." He flexed his fist. "Let's see how this new elemental power works." He bent down and pressed his palm to the ground at his feet.

At the far side of the courtyard, Sailor Mars shrieked as her legs plunged knee-deep into what had appeared to be solid blacktop. "Not again!" she screamed.

Jupiter, who was similarly mired, turned to her with an inquisitive stare. "What do you mean, not again?"

Mars shook her head. "I don't know.... I just felt the strangest sense of déjà vu."

Jupiter's stomach lurched as she started to lose her balance. As she righted herself, she felt the liquid earth rising around her thighs. "Um, Mars... I think we're sinking!"

Mars quickly lifted her arms to keep them well clear of the sucking surface. "I feel it too. I have a feeling this stuff is quicksand."

"Quicksand?" repeated Jupiter. "But how? This is solid asphalt!"

"Was," corrected Mars. "Cell has the powers of earth AND water now."

Jupiter swallowed hard. "So, what do we do now?"

Mars shrugged. "Sink, I guess."

Meanwhile, Cell appeared in front of the fleeing Venus, cutting off her escape. Venus stopped in her tracks and reflexively pointed her finger at his face. "VENUS CRESCENT BEAM SMASH!" Cell flinched at the blow, giving Venus time to turn around and run in the other direction. Sailor Moon couldn't get out of the way fast enough, and the two tripped over each other and fell to the ground at Cell's feet.

Cell's hand wrapped around Venus' throat, and he pulled her up to his face. "Remember, fighting only makes it hurt. Allow me to demonstrate." He gave her throat a hard squeeze as his tail opened above her head.

Sailor Moon sat up and tore her tiara from her head. "MOON TIARA MAGIC!" she shouted, hurling the discus over Cell's shoulder. It neatly sliced the tip off his tail, causing Cell to release his grip on Venus. She dropped to the ground and rolled out of his reach in the same motion.

Sailor Moon stood up and put her hands on her hips. "You may have taken some of our friends from us, but without your tail, you can't absorb the rest of us!"

"That's where you're wrong," said Cell. He clasped his hands together and groaned, and a new tip sprouted from the stump of his tail.

"They're in trouble!" shouted Mars. She lunged for a handhold at the edge of the quicksand, driving herself to waist-depth almost instantly.

"Mars, don't struggle!" warned Jupiter. "It'll just make you sink faster!"

Mars turned to show her determined face to Jupiter. "If it's a choice between being swallowed by quicksand or by Cell's tail, I'll take the quicksand any day."

Jupiter stared at the undulating ground around her hips. "I'd rather not have to die at all, but I guess you've got a point. Hold still and let me try getting out of this stuff." She carefully leaned forward and grabbed the solid edge of the pit, slowly pulling herself toward safety. Her efforts pushed her down as much as forward, but as her waist settled into the quicksand, she found herself close enough to the edge to hold herself up. She lay down on her stomach and pushed with all her might, slowly but steadily swinging her legs up to the surface.

"Wow," said Mars. "Maybe struggling isn't such a bad idea after all."

"It's all -" Jupiter grunted as she pulled her hips out of the pit "- upper body strength."

Mars felt the slurry tickling her lower ribs and sighed. "Well, at least one of us is going to survive."

"I'll get you out as soon as I can," Jupiter assured her.

"Don't worry about me," said Mars. "I'll stop sinking after a while. But I think they need your help more." She raised an arm to point to the other Scouts, who were backing nervously away from Cell as he advanced menacingly on them.

"VENUS CRESCENT BEAM SMASH!" shouted Venus, knocking Cell's head back with a well-placed shot.

Cell rubbed his chin and scowled at her. "When did that little beam get so powerful?" he asked.

Venus quickly backed away, firing her Crescent Beam repeatedly to keep Cell at bay, but he pushed his way forward through the constant barrage. Suddenly, Sailor Moon's tiara flew over Venus' head and sliced through Cell's neck, decapitating him. Venus sighed her relief. "Finally! It's over!"

Before Venus could inhale, the stump of Cell's neck bulged, and a new head sprouted forth. Cell tilted his head from one side to the other, casually cracking his neck as if losing and regrowing his head was a common experience for him.

"He's unstoppable!" whined Sailor Moon. "We're never going to beat him!"

"Just keep attacking him with everything you've got!" commanded Venus. "I think we might be weakening him!" She pushed all of her energy into a Crescent Beam, knocking Cell back hard enough that he had to stab his tail into the ground to keep his balance. Relieved, she took another step backward, and the ground swallowed her legs in an instant. She screamed and raised her arms to ward off Cell's funnel as it descended upon her - but the next thing she felt was a pair of hands grabbing her waist and pulling her out of the quicksand. She looked up to see the mud-covered Sailor Jupiter standing in front of her, holding Cell's tail up to keep it away from Venus, while Sailor Moon hauled her to solid ground.

"VENUS CRESCENT BEAM SMASH!" shouted Venus, knocking Cell's tail aside with her beam to allow Jupiter to escape. "Thanks for the save, guys!"

"Go help Sailor Mars!" ordered Jupiter, waving her arm in the direction of the imperiled Scout. "I'll keep Cell busy!"

"I'm staying too!" asserted Sailor Moon. She pulled off her tiara and prepared to throw it in Jupiter's defense.

"You guys be careful," said Venus. "I'll be right back with Sailor Mars!"

Cell smiled as Venus ran to Mars' rescue. "I trust you've realized the futility of running away. It's only a matter of time now until you're all part of me."

"I wouldn't bet on it!" retorted Jupiter. She quickly leapt aside as she saw Cell stab his tail into the ground, barely escaping before the spot where she'd been standing turned to quicksand. "You can't catch me with the same trick twice!"

"Well, he tricked me!" whined Sailor Moon, knee-deep in the liquid ground. "Help!"

Jupiter groaned in exasperation, not taking her eyes off Cell. "Sorry, but I'm a little busy right now! Try not to move!"

"Easy for you to say," mumbled Sailor Moon. "I'm the one who's sinking!"

"Then let's make this quick," said Jupiter. "JUPITER THUNDER CRASH!" Lightning leapt from her tiara and enveloped Cell, who didn't even flinch. "Shoot! I forgot that won't work!"

Cell chuckled and curled his hand around a ball of energy, which he casually flung at Jupiter with such speed that she couldn't dodge it. The explosion threw her head over heels, but Cell was in front of her before she could land. He stretched out his arm and flicked her forehead with a finger, sending her into the sky. He leapt up to meet her, wrapped his arms around her waist, and shot downward at supersonic speed, letting go of her just above the ground and veering off. He hovered beside the giant cloud of dust from her impact and reached into it, pulling Jupiter out by her ponytail.

"Hold it right there!" shouted Sailor Moon, brandishing her tiara without regard to the quicksand that she was waist-deep in. "I won't let you hurt my friends any more!"

Cell clamped his hand onto Jupiter's skull and picked her up, letting her body dangle in front of his body. "Are you willing to risk her life by attacking me?"

"You can't use her as a shield!" protested Sailor Moon. "That's just evil!"

"So I'm told," said Cell with a mock bow. "I'd advise you to hold still until I'm done with this one."

"Just try it!" threatened Sailor Moon, holding her discus aloft. "If you try to absorb her, I'll have a clear shot at your tail!"

"Yet, the luxury of time is on my side," noted Cell.

Sailor Moon gave the quicksand a brief worried glance. "I don't care what happens to me!" she shouted defiantly. "If I have to die to protect my friends, then I will!"

"I'm sure that can be arranged," agreed Cell.

"VENUS CRESCENT BEAM SMASH!" The beam struck the side of Cell's head, nearly snapping his neck from the force. Venus and Mars ran to Sailor Moon's side, each grabbing an arm to haul her up out of the pit.

Cell threw a ball of light at the trio, who could do little more than brace for the impact. Venus and Mars held on doggedly to Sailor Moon's arms as the projectile exploded, but that only caused all three of them to fly across the courtyard together, landing in a heap in the giant puddle of water from Cell's original demonstration of Neptune's power.

"You can't all die at once," said Cell as he turned his attention back to the unconscious Sailor Scout in his hand. He shifted his grip to hold her shoulders so that he could cover her head with the funnel and begin to suck her in. As the lip of the funnel closed over her shoulders, Jupiter's legs began to kick weakly, but she was powerless to stop her ascent into the tube.

Sailor Moon raised her head just in time to see the hem of Jupiter's skirt vanish into Cell's tail. "No..." she moaned. "You can't!" She pushed herself to her feet, slipping several times in the pitch that covered her legs. By the time she could stand, only Jupiter's muddy boots were visible poking out of the end of Cell's tail. They quickly went up the tube as well.

Sailor Moon tore the tiara from her head. "MOON TIARA MAGIC!" As she wound up to throw, a wave of dizziness hit her, and her vision blurred. The discus flew off in the wrong direction, nearly slicing off Ranma's ear as he ducked, while Sailor Moon fell back to the ground.

Cell watched the discus fly out of sight, shaking his head sadly. "Humans. Such sad creatures. Even when they can't take care of themselves, they try to help others. It all amounts to the same thing in the end." He pulled Sailor Jupiter into his body. "But enough poetry. I have a job to do." As the glow of his new integration faded, arcs of electricity crackled across his skin. He watched them trace from pebble to pebble across his arms, then pointed a finger at the Sailor Scouts who remained.

Venus lifted her head out of the water, which was beginning to turn black as it washed the mud off their bodies, and saw Cell preparing to launch an attack. She wasted no time in putting up the only defense she could. "VENUS CRESCENT BEAM SMASH!" The beam tore into Cell's shoulder, snapping his arm back and sending his electric attack harmlessly into the sky.

Cell stared angrily at the smoking crater in his shoulder. "What is happening? Why does your attack damage me more as I grow more powerful?"

"Yeah," echoed Ryoko, "how come? He should be even stronger now, right?"

"I thought it would be obvious," replied Lina. "Just like when he absorbed too much water power and had an elemental weakness to electricity, now he's got an elemental weakness to Sailor Venus' love power."

"What kind of power makes him weak to that?" asked Ryoko.

"Evil," replied Lina. "His entire body is full of it, and every time he absorbs a Sailor Scout, that power grows."

Ryoko hummed. "Talk about a double-edged sword."

Cell seemed to disappear and reappear at the edge of the puddle as the Sailor Scouts tried to get to their feet. He reached down and grabbed Venus by the collar as the hole in his shoulder rippled and repaired itself. "You won't live to try that again, I promise you." He clenched his fingers and sent the full force of his electricity through her. She couldn't hold back the screams as her body arched and bucked involuntarily while Cell fried her alive.

Sailor Moon pushed herself up to an elbow at the sound of Venus' screams and grabbed her tiara, then threw it sidearm at Cell while shouting "MOON TIARA MAGIC!" Cell easily knocked the discus away with his forearm, letting up his electric attack for a split second while he was distracted. Venus seized the opportunity and focused her energy into her fingertip, then pressed it to Cell's wrist before the electric current could resume. The blast completely severed Cell's hand, dropping her to the ground with its fingers still clutching her leotard.

Now it was Sailor Mars who had risen to her knees to take aim at the stump of Cell's wrist. "MARS FIRE IGNITE!" she shouted, sending a jet of flame shooting across the exposed innards of Cell's arm.

Once the flame attack had ended, Mars rose to her feet to assess the damage, but as always, Cell's body was unharmed. Without even acknowledging the attack, Cell tensed his muscles to regrow his hand. However, after several seconds had passed, his arm remained handless. "What's wrong with me?" he asked aloud. "Why am I not regenerating?" His eyes narrowed, and he glared at Mars. "You...."

Mars smiled and gave a cocky salute. "I call that the Sailor Mars Cauterization Special."

Cell simply pointed at her with his good hand and blasted her with electricity until she collapsed. "I don't have a name for that," he said, "but if it shuts you up, I'm satisfied."

Venus shakily stood up, raising a finger threateningly. "Hey, you leave her alone!"

"Every time I put one down, another pops up," groaned Cell.

"VENUS CRESCENT BEAM SMASH!" shouted Venus, shooting a beam at Cell. He slid aside to dodge it, then darted forward and smacked her on the head with the tip of his tail before she could get off another shot. She leaned back just in time to avoid the worst of the impact, but as she fell, Cell's funnel opened and quickly snapped closed around her right wrist. She threw her weight backward, hoping to break free, but merely wrenched her shoulder and nearly dislocated it as Cell's grip held firm. The muscles within his tail closed around her hand and drew her in until the tip of the tail encircled her shoulder. Realizing that the opening wasn't large enough to take her in any further, Venus grabbed the tip of the tail and pried with fierce determination, but when the funnel opened, the tube held her arm firmly in place. She was drawn into the wider opening in an instant, and the funnel closed over her head, entombing her in its cold darkness.

Sailor Mars pushed herself to her elbows and watched as Sailor Venus again began to slide up Cell's tail. She clenched her fists angrily and turned her head to face Sailor Moon. "Yo, meatball-head, wake up! Sailor Venus needs your help!"

Sailor Moon weakly opened her eyes. "I don't think I can use my power again," she whispered. "I barely made it work the last time."

"You can't just give up!" shouted Mars. "You never give up, no matter how bad things get!"

"I can't move," moaned Sailor Moon. "I don't have the energy left to fight any more."

"Then find it!" snapped Mars. "You're the one who wanted to stay and fight when the rest of us wanted to run away. And you were right. It's our duty to protect all the people who can't fight for themselves. We have to win, to protect everyone! And right now, Cell's sucking up the best chance we have at victory! Are you going to let him take Sailor Venus too?"

Sailor Moon shook her head and removed her tiara. "Moon... Tiara..." she whispered, making the headpiece glow faintly. It flickered, alternately taking the form of a discus, then returning to its original shape. "I can't do it," she announced tearfully. "I've never had to use so much power at once. I just... don't have it in me anymore." Her hand fell to the ground, dropping the tiara into the mud.

Mars let Sailor Moon be and turned her attention instead to Cell, as the last traces of Venus' boots vanished into his tail. "Then I guess it's up to me," she spat, pushing herself to her feet. She clasped her hands together with her index fingers extended and drew on all the power she could find, pushing it into the growing fireball at her fingertips.

Cell spread his arms wide, pulling his tail behind him. "You want one final shot at me before I absorb you as well? Then make it a quick one. You haven't much time."

Mars gritted her teeth as the energy coursing through her began to take its toll, making her entire body ache, but she ignored the pain and focused on her goal. She had to come up with enough energy to destroy Cell in one shot, and the only way to be sure was to give him everything she had left and then some. But she had to wait until the last possible second, to make sure she had every ounce of power she could muster....

Suddenly, Cell's tail exploded in a blinding flash of light, showering the entire courtyard with purple goo. Cell spun around to face the source of the attack, but the only thing behind him was Sailor Venus, sprawled on the ground and coughing. "You... how did you do that?" he demanded. "Did you destroy my tail from the inside?"

Sailor Mars smiled as Cell turned his back to her, giving her an excellent target - the stump of his missing tail. She took aim and let fly the attack she'd been building up, sending a powerful jet of flame shooting at the exposed target. A spout of water from the stump formed a shield just a moment before the flames could hit home, but Mars poured even more energy into the attack, adrenaline surging through her system as sheer determination overcame her fatigue. Gallons of water turned to steam in the wake of Mars' fire, forming a cloud that covered Cell from head to toe, but she kept fighting. This attack was her only chance, and just a little more power would spell the end of Cell's murderous rampage....

A barely perceptible shadow moved slightly in the depths of the steam cloud. Before Mars could react, Cell's new tail shot out of the steam and tore right through her stomach as it regrew. The entire needle protruded from her back in a spray of blood, while the round tip penetrated halfway through her body before finally reaching its limit and lodging in her gut. A quick gasp escaped her lips, along with a few ounces of blood. Then, Cell withdrew his tail in a swift motion, opening the funnel and covering her head with it before her nearly lifeless body could fall to the ground.

Sailor Moon's heart sank as she watched helplessly. "I'm sorry... I wasn't strong enough."

Venus rolled over and took aim at Cell's back. "VENUS CRESCENT BEAM SMASH!" Her beam hit the base of Cell's tail, leaving a large burn mark but not penetrating the skin. Cell twisted at the waist and fired a ball of light, which exploded right next to her as she rolled out of the way. The blast threw her several feet across the courtyard. When she stopped, she looked up to see Cell standing over her.

"Wait your turn," he said. "I have to finish absorbing this one before she dies."

"NO!" screamed Venus, climbing to her feet. She pointed her finger at Cell's face, but he grabbed her forearm in his remaining hand and twisted hard, nearly lifting her off the ground in a very painful way. Venus cried out in pain and lost her balance, tugging even harder on her pinned arm as she started to fall. Cell held her for just a second longer before letting her drop to the ground, where she curled around her injured arm protectively.

Cell sneered at the fallen Scout as he pulled Sailor Mars the rest of the way into his tail. "The power of fire is mine," he announced. "Now things will really - dare I say it? - heat up!" He cackled as his body glowed with the familiar energy as he integrated Sailor Mars into himself. When the glow faded, the sparks crackling over his skin were joined by tiny peals of flame that leapt from one invisible node to another like solar flares.

"Well, let's see how it works," said Cell. He peered down at Sailor Venus and opened his mouth to spit a wave of fire at her. Venus' eyes widened in horror as the flames approached, and she pushed herself away with her good arm, barely rolling to safety in time.

"Lovely," said Cell. "I can see why Chronite felt this power would be of use to me." He raised the stump of his right arm and pointed his left index finger at it. A ball of light formed at the tip of the finger and shot out in a beam that severed what was left of his forearm. A new hand instantly sprouted from the freshly opened stump. "Ahh, it feels good to be whole once again, now that they don't have the power of fire to prevent me from regenerating lost parts."

Venus quickly stood up, bracing her injured arm with her left hand. "I've had enough!" she shouted. "VENUS CRESCENT BEAM -"

Before she could finish her attack, Cell's fist pounded her in the stomach with enough force to instantly double her over. She coughed up a lungful of blood as her body curled around his fist, while time seemed to slow to a crawl as if to prolong her pain. Then, the laws of momentum reasserted themselves, and she flew across the courtyard to land in an undignified heap.

Sailor Moon pushed herself up on her elbows. "Venus...."

"Well, that was easier than I expected," said Cell as he strode toward the incapacitated Scout. Sailor Venus tried to stand up, but hadn't gotten to her hands and knees before her stomach heaved and she vomited up a foul-tasting mixture of blood and half-digested food. She spat out the last of it as Cell's shadow fell on her, blocking the light from the streetlamps.

"Stop!" shouted Sailor Moon. "I won't let you!" She pushed herself up to her feet, wobbling wildly as she stood upright. The tiara in her hand became a discus, flickered, then glowed brightly. "I won't let you hurt her!"

Cell turned to face her. "Are you up already? Then I'll just have to beat you first!" He opened his hand and charged up a ball of energy to throw at her, but a wide beam of light shot through him from behind, tearing a gaping hole in his chest. He whirled angrily on Venus and raised his arm to throw the ball at her instead, but the Moon Tiara tore a chunk out of his left side before he could strike. He screamed in rage and leapt into the air, coming down where Sailor Moon had been standing with enough force to leave a crater as the Scout dove out of the way.

"Don't give up!" shouted Venus. "We've got a chance to beat him! Keep attacking until there's nothing left!" She rose to one foot, but a wave of nausea prevented her from standing up any further.

Cell ignored the hopeful plea and lowered his hand to shoot the energy ball at Sailor Moon before she could recover from the shock of his previous attack. She crawled out of the way, barely making it to the periphery of the blast in time. The explosion sent her rolling across the blacktop, but she used the momentum to roll to her feet. She tore the tiara from her head, but dropped it as the ground liquefied beneath her feet and swallowed her legs whole. The tiara landed on the wet surface and bobbed for a split second before the mud closed over it. Sailor Moon gasped and plunged her arms into the quicksand, searching for the lost tiara, but her fingers found nothing but the bottomless mud.

Cell smiled. "That ought to keep her busy for a while." He turned back to Sailor Venus, who tensed as she felt his eyes on her and aimed her finger at him.

"VENUS CRESCENT BEAM SMASH!"

Cell leaned easily aside to dodge the blast, then leapt forward, grabbing her arms and holding them as far apart as they would stretch. She twisted in his grip, hoping to pull an arm free, but her stomach churned as she moved, abruptly ending her struggle.

"No!" shouted Sailor Moon. "I have to save Sailor Venus, with or without my tiara!" She pulled her arms out of the mud, sinking to her chest in the process, and lunged for the edge of the pit. Her mud-covered fingers slipped across the solid surface without finding purchase. She swallowed hard as the quicksand rose around her neck and clawed vainly at the ground in a last, desperate attempt to survive. Suddenly, something beneath the surface grabbed her foot and tugged it sharply, causing her leg to jerk involuntarily. The sudden movement plunged her head beneath the surface in an instant, and she panicked, thrashing wildly in an attempt to swim to the surface for air. This only served to speed her descent, and she sank even faster as the surface rose farther and farther out of reach. Blind and deaf to the world, Sailor Moon sank into the infinite muddy blackness until she could hold her breath no longer. The air escaped from her lungs in a single fatal gasp, and the mud rushed in to fill the vacuum, coating her tongue with the acrid taste of pitch as it filled her and choked out the last of her air.

Venus watched helplessly as the quicksand swallowed the last traces of Sailor Moon's pigtails and the bubbles of her dying exhalation broke the surface. "I can't believe it... not Sailor Moon!"

"Indeed," countered Cell. "I didn't need her power anyway. But yours seems to be stronger than I first believed, so I suppose it's only fitting that I absorb you last."

Venus quickly turned her attention back to Cell, remembering her own predicament now that Sailor Moon had succumbed to her fate. Summoning all the strength she had left, she swung her legs up and kicked at his chest repeatedly, but Cell ignored the blows and waited patiently while she put up the last fight of her life. Her stomach turned from the effort, but she choked back the bile that rose in her throat and let her legs dangle while she summoned the energy for another round.

She never got the chance. Before she could move again, she felt the lip of the funnel tighten around her ankles, and her heart leapt into her throat. She tried to pull her legs free, but Cell's tail held her in an unbreakable grip, closing tightly around her feet as it rose around her body, encircling more and more of her with every second that passed. Once again, she tried to pull an arm out of Cell's grasp, but that too proved to be stronger than her weakened muscles. There was nothing she could do to prevent the tail from swallowing her, inch by inch.

Already, the lip of the tail was around her shoulders, and Cell raised her arms straight over her head so they would fit into the tube. The movement forced her head back, and she found herself staring up into the night sky. As she watched, the starry field split apart, spilling colorless light onto the battlefield through a countless web of cracks. "A paradox," she whispered. "I have to stop it! I have to fight...." But even as she said it, she knew it was futile. Her head was halfway into Cell's tail, and she couldn't move a muscle. She closed her eyes firmly, shutting out the scene of impending destruction. "I'm sorry, everyone. I let you all die, even Sailor Moon. I couldn't save you." A tear ran down her cheek. "But don't worry. We're all going to be together again soon." The tail closed over her head, and she took her final breath and waited for the end.

  



	20. 19: One on One with the Evil One

A General Time Paradox

Chapter 19: One on One with the Evil One

She was a horrible person.

She couldn't believe how useless she had turned out to be when her friends had needed her the most. She'd given everything she had to keep them safe, but one by one, they'd been taken from her. And now she, too, was going to die. Not only that, but she was going to die in the most ignominious way imaginable. But it was all she deserved after her failure. She wasn't worthy of the title of Sailor Scout.

No, that was wrong. She couldn't blame herself. She'd done her best. It was the fault of Cell and his monstrous power. She'd learned long before that she couldn't hold herself accountable for the destruction caused by Queen Beryl and her minions. They were the bad guys... she and her friends were doing everything they could to stop it, but they were only human. Well, more than human, but still far from infallible. Obviously, given that she was dying....

Was she dead yet? Clearly not, if she was still thinking. Then again, maybe this was what death was like... complete senselessness, with nothing to do but think for all eternity. It certainly wasn't what she'd expected, but not many things she'd encountered were. She hadn't expected to become a Sailor Scout either, and since then, her life had been nothing but a succession of surprises. In that light, her death was just the latest surprise in the nearly interminable list - one more hurdle to get over, even if it was the last.

But was it really the end? If she could still think, there might still be hope! If she could just do something... anything! She pushed her arm upward with all her might against the anticipated resistance, but it moved easily as if through nothing but air. Her shoulder blade rubbed against the ground as she moved, and for the first time, she considered the possibility that she had ended up in a new place altogether. The air was not cold, and the temperature of the ground matched her body's heat so well that she hadn't even felt it until she'd tried to move. It was perfectly flat, as well, not the rough texture of the blacktop she'd been on while fighting Cell. So she wasn't in a senseless void after all... just a place with very little to sense. No sound or smells, anyway, and not much to feel. As for sight... well, having her eyes tightly closed made it difficult to judge. There certainly didn't seem to be much light filtering through her eyelids. But it probably wasn't completely dark out there either, and seeing where she was might give her some clue as to what had happened. It was probably either heaven or hell, though. She certainly hadn't been reincarnated into a full-grown body. Everyone knew that when you were reincarnated, you had to start from birth. Or was she an exception due to the Planet Power within her? No, that couldn't be. She'd been reincarnated once already, and had had to be born just like any other girl.

Still, all the pondering was just delaying the inevitable moment when she would have to stop wondering where she was and just open her eyes. Whatever fate lay in store for her was unlikely to get any more desirable as she waited. Not to mention that she had no idea whether this new body would get hungry or sleepy or need to use the restroom, and she would have to find places to take care of those needs before they arose. And what did she have to be scared of, anyway? Anything that happened to her from this point was bound to happen sooner or later anyway, now that she was in this afterlife. It was about time she faced her fate.

A brilliant starlit sky greeted her as she opened her eyes. The stars shone clearly, without the twinkling she'd grown accustomed to from her time in the living world. This world had no clouds to distort the starlight. But the stars alone couldn't account for the soft glow that surrounded her. She sat up to get a better view of her environment. Everything she saw - the broken columns of crystal, the ornate fountains that no longer sprayed water, the fallen statues of both humans and creatures she'd never seen before, even the tiled ground itself - still emitted a faint light that belied the ruined condition of the place. It probably wasn't hell... but if it was heaven, it had recently fallen to some dark power. Still, there was an eerie familiarity to the place. It wasn't quite as if she'd been there before, but in some way, she felt incredibly safe, as if an aura of magic protected anyone who entered from harm. As she surveyed the decrepit splendor, the fear she'd felt before quickly vanished.

Newly emboldened, she stood up and brushed off the skirt of her fuku, even though there was no dust on the ground to collect on her clothes. The soft sound of her hands brushing the cloth stood out in the silence, reminding her that even though she had overcome her fear, she was still alone in this place. "Hello?" she called out. She waited for a while, but there was no reply - not even the echo of her own voice. She spun around, searching for any sign of life other than herself... and that's when she saw the palace. Well, what remained of the palace, anyway. It was mostly the length of the base of the shattered walls, and the places where what remained of the ancient towers stood, that suggested the form of a crystal palace there. That, and a lingering memory in the back of her mind that, when she had last been here, the palace had stood tall and beautiful. The crystal portcullis used to be right there, and the watchtowers to either side of it, there and there. Above that, the automatic weapons Mercury had built, poised to ward off any who dared attack... the Moon Palace.

"Serena," announced a familiar woman's voice from behind one of the crystal pillars. Sailor Moon whirled to face the woman who had been her mother in a former life. Queen Serenity smiled and bowed slightly. "I've been waiting for you."

*************************************************

"... and then he turned the ground under me into quicksand," said Sailor Moon, bringing the story of the battle with Cell to its conclusion as the two women walked through the former halls of the once great Moon Palace. "I tried to use my tiara to save Venus, but I dropped it and it sank. And I tried to get out, but I couldn't. I thought I was dead, but instead, I woke up here."

Serenity nodded sagely. "Yes, I know why you've come here." She motioned for Sailor Moon to stop, while she turned around and took her seat in the crystal throne that had miraculously remained intact amidst the rubble. "Sailor Pluto told me this day would come."

"She did?" queried Sailor Moon.

"Indeed. Sailor Pluto knows all that happens in past, present, and future. When I gave up my life to send you and the Sailor Scouts into the future, Pluto preserved my spirit for this very purpose. She told me that, after you had defeated Beryl, you would face more difficult opponents, fiends with greater power than you were capable of fighting with the power you would possess at the time. One of them would pull you into the ground, and that would trigger the spell of destiny that Sailor Pluto placed upon your soul. Instead of dying, you would awaken here, where I would present you with the power you need to defeat your new enemies."

Sailor Moon gasped in wonder. "Really? You can help me beat Cell?"

"I believe I can," Serenity replied with a smile. She reached behind the throne and withdrew an ornate golden scepter. Its handle was decorated with three embossed stars, ending with an ornament in the shape of a heart, which was attached to a ruby-set crescent moon framing a large red orb and topped with a jeweled crown. "This is the Moon Scepter. Its power is far greater than that of the Moon Crescent Wand."

"The Moon Scepter..." Sailor Moon repeated as she reached for the scepter. "It's beautiful. Is it really powerful enough to beat Cell?"

"It must be," replied Serenity. "Pluto would not have spent the effort to create the destiny spell if it were not the key to your victory."

"Then I'll take it!" said Sailor Moon. "With this, defeating Cell and Beryl will be no problem!"

Serenity quickly pulled back the scepter before Sailor Moon's fingers could close around it. "Did you say Beryl? I thought you had already defeated her!"

Sailor Moon shook her head. "No... she's the one sending these new enemies after us."

Serenity's face darkened. "But that's impossible. Pluto told me that you would come here after defeating Beryl. If this is too soon, then...." Her eyes fell to the Moon Scepter.

"What is it?" asked Sailor Moon. "What's wrong?"

"I - I don't think I can give this to you now," said Serenity. "I'm sorry. You're not ready for it yet."

"But I need it!" protested Sailor Moon. "There's no way I can beat Cell without it!"

"The Moon Scepter is not merely more powerful than the weapons you wield already," explained Serenity. "It also draws much more of your spirit to produce that power. If your spirit is not strong enough to withstand that drain, the power of the Moon Scepter will tear you apart."

"But you said if," Sailor Moon pointed out. "Does that mean I might be strong enough already?"

"You could be," admitted Serenity. "There is no absolute answer, no criterion which will determine when your body and spirit are capable of handling this power. It will be up to you to judge that." Her hands twisted on the shaft of the Moon Scepter. "In the meantime... I suppose I must leave the decision up to you." She held the scepter up to Sailor Moon. "If you think you are ready, then take it."

Sailor Moon hesitantly reached for the scepter. "I don't know if I'm ready or not. But if it's the only way to save my friends, I have to try."

Serenity pulled the scepter back again. "Serena... there is one more thing I must warn you."

Sailor Moon's hand quickly returned to her side. "What is it?"

"This power... it is not a healing power, like that of the Moon Crescent Wand. The power of the Moon Scepter is pure destruction. It will utterly obliterate anything it touches."

"But the Sailor Scouts are part of Cell! If I destroy Cell while they're still inside him...."

Serenity nodded sadly. "The Sailor Scouts will be destroyed as well."

"Then I can't possibly take it!" Sailor Moon backed away from the throne. "There must be another way!"

"I do not know of another," replied Serenity. "If your power is indeed too weak, then this is the only way I know of to increase it."

"But what about the power I have now?" Sailor Moon asked determinedly. "Isn't there some way I can save the Sailor Scouts?"

"I don't know," repeated Serenity. "The Moon Scepter is the only sure way to defeat Cell... if you can use it."

"But I don't want to destroy my friends...."

"They gave their lives to protect you," Serenity reminded her. "You must not let that sacrifice be in vain. If you allow Cell to overcome you again, then their lives will be wasted."

Sailor Moon nodded ruefully. "When you put it that way...." She stepped back to the throne and reached for the Moon Scepter again. "I guess I have no choice."

"There is always a choice," Serenity corrected her. "Some choices are just more clear-cut than others." She lifted the Moon Scepter into Sailor Moon's hand.

As Sailor Moon's fingers closed around the handle of the Moon Scepter, the air shuddered and familiar cracks split the sky apart. Sailor Moon gasped, frozen in place as the universe teetered on the edge of shattering. "Oh, no! Not this again!"

"What is happening?" asked Serenity, staring into the sky in horror. "Sailor Pluto never mentioned anything about this!"

"No, but Uranus and Neptune told me about it," replied Sailor Moon. "This is a paradox. It means that something's messing with the future, and if we don't fix it, the universe will be torn apart!"

"Then you don't have much time," said Serenity. "You must choose quickly whether or not to accept the Moon Scepter and return to your own time to battle Cell."

"I have to defeat him, or we're all doomed," reflected Sailor Moon. "No matter what the cost, I have to win, even if my friends have to die, right?" She shook her head adamantly and let go of the scepter. "What am I saying? I can't let my friends be destroyed just so I can take the easy way out!"

The cracks in the universe closed, restoring the world to unity. Serenity smiled. "Then your decision is made. Your friends are most important to you, even when your own life is at stake. You will not accept victory at the cost of human lives."

"Is that wrong?" asked Sailor Moon, her voice tinged with worry. "If I throw my life away to save my friends...."

"That very sacrifice is the reason you live," Serenity reminded her. "And the reason I do not."

It took a few moments for the meaning of Serenity's words to hit home. "Huh? Oh...."

"Do not apologize, Serena. I have never regretted my decision, nor would I take it back if given the chance. Pluto tells me that you have grown up into a wonderful girl, and now I've seen it with my own eyes. I'm so proud of you, my daughter."

Sailor Moon felt her face growing warm under the stream of praise. "Well, I'm not really that great... I screw things up all the time, and I'm a real klutz."

"Everyone has moments of clumsiness. You'll grow out of it."

"I sure hope so."

"I KNOW so," Serenity replied with a reassuring smile.

Hope dawned on Sailor Moon's face for the first time since being told of the Moon Scepter's full power. "Then... you really think I can win?"

"You have chosen a difficult path, Serena. Trying to prevent others from making sacrifices will require you to make many of your own, and they will be painful. But it is also a noble path, and it will lead to your truest friends. Always remember that if a leader values her followers as you do, her kindness may bury them... but that kindness can also be the foundation of victory. The universe seems to have faith in you," Serenity added, her smile not diminishing in the slightest. "And I have faith in you as well. All that remains is for you to have faith in yourself."

"Yes," agreed Sailor Moon. "I will save my friends, I know it!"

"Good. Go make me proud," commanded Serenity. "I wish you good fortune and all the love I can give. There is nothing more I can do for you. Until we meet again...." She raised her fingers to her lips and kissed them, then blew the kiss to her daughter. Sailor Moon barely had time to notice it before the floor under her feet opened into a pool of light and swallowed her in an instant. Serenity continued to stare until the light had shrunk to a point and vanished. It was then that she could no longer hold back her tears. "I'm sorry I lied to you, my daughter. I knew the power of the Moon Scepter was beyond your ability, but the choice not to use it had to be yours. Only with the determination to defeat Cell without its power can you succeed. But that determination alone will not be nearly enough."

Sniffling daintily, she returned the Moon Scepter to its place behind her throne and stood up, clasping her hands together in supplication. "Fight well, Sailor Moon. Your future... the future of the universe itself... is in your hands now."

*************************************************

Cell stared in horror into the fragmented sky while Venus' arms grasped blindly for some hope of survival. "Wwhhaatt iiss tthhiiss?" he asked. "Wwhhaatt iiss ggooiinngg oonn?"

Ryoko slowly shivered, every would-be rapid movement accentuated by the time dilation. "Nnoott tthhiiss tthhiinngg aaggaaiinn... iitt ggiivveess mmee tthhee ccrreeeeppss."

"Ii tthhiinnkk tthhiiss iiss wwhhaatt Ssaaiilloorr Pplluuttoo wwaass ttaallkkiinngg aabboouutt," said Lina. "Aa ppaarraaddooxx."

The blood began to drain from Ranma's face. "Yyoouu mmeeaann...."

Lina stepped up to the edge of the roof and cupped her hands over her mouth. "Cceellll!" she shouted, drawing attention to the rooftop for the first time since the battle had begun. "Ddoonn'tt kkiillll tthhee llaasstt Ssaaiilloorr Ssccoouutt! Iitt'llll ddeessttrrooyy tthhiiss eennttiirree uunniivveerrssee!"

Cell's shocked expression softened. "Ooff ccoouurrssee. Tthhiiss uunniivveerrssee... hhooww ccoonnvveenniieenntt tthhaatt Ii wwoonn'tt bbee hheerree ttoo mmiissss iitt." He pulled Sailor Venus the rest of the way into his tail until her arms vanished from sight.

Lina growled quietly. "Ddiiddnn'tt hhee hheeaarr wwhhaatt Ii ssaaiidd?"

Suddenly, the tip of Cell's tail bulged like a balloon, then exploded in a blinding flash of light and the loud clap of thunder. The watchers on the roof had to wait several seconds for their vision to return before they could see Venus' hands poking out of what remained of Cell's tail in the courtyard below.

Cell smirked. "I was expecting you to try that again. Why do you think I swallowed your hands last?" His tail regrew around Venus' hands, and he resumed pulling her in.

"Wait... the paradox is over," noted Lina. "But Venus didn't escape... so what's going on?"

"She's not the one who's escaping," replied Ranma. "Take a look over there."

Lina followed Ranma's pointing finger to see the surface of the quicksand that had swallowed Sailor Moon bubbling furiously as if boiling. "What the heck is going on?" she asked.

"She can't possibly still be alive," said Ryoko. "She's been under there for over a minute, and that's not counting the time dilation from the paradox."

"Well, she's not under anymore," said Ranma, as two bright yellow spots appeared in the center of the pit. They grew quickly into tiny round balls the size of meatballs, joined by a curved dome, as the top of Sailor Moon's head continued to rise out of the ground.

"Think we should warn Cell?" asked Lina.

"Like he'd listen to you," retorted Ryoko. "He'll just kill her again anyway, sooner or later. Why not give the girl a few more minutes to live?"

"Does anyone else think it's weird that she's coming up clean?" asked Ranma.

"What do you mean?" asked Lina.

"There's no mud left on her at all," remarked Ranma. "You'd expect her to be filthy after swimming in that muck. It was all over her the last time. But now...." He trailed off as her shoulders broke the surface. "Hey, that's not what she was wearing before!"

"What are you talking about?" asked Ryoko. "She couldn't have changed clothes." But even as she finished her sentence, she noticed what Ranma had already observed. Sailor Moon was indeed no longer wearing her fuku. Instead, her clothes appeared to be made of pure white lace, with frills around the neck and shoulders. She'd gained a crescent moon necklace as well as an ornate jeweled tiara and ruby earrings during her time beneath the surface. But it was still her face that had changed the most. Even from the rooftop, they could see the newfound maturity and strength in her eyes.

As Sailor Moon rose to waist-depth, Cell's ears twitched. "Something is happening," he muttered. He turned around and gasped at the sight of the opponent he'd left for dead, very much alive and rising from her grave as he watched. "You!" he shouted, pointing an accusing finger. "How did you escape my trap! You can't possibly have the power to do that!"

Sailor Moon finally moved for the first time since her reappearance, raising her head to stare into Cell's eyes. The fury of her glare made Cell take a reflexive step backward in fear. "Wherever evil is found, there you will find me. I am Serena daughter of Serenity, Princess of the Moon Kingdom, and I am the defender of the innocent. Strength, size, weapons - they mean nothing to me, for I fight with my pride and my courage. My power will strike down all of my enemies, for I am Sailor Moon! And in the name of the Moon..." She kicked her leg up, causing the tiara that had landed on her foot to jump up into her hand, and she caught it firmly. "... I will destroy you and save my friends!"

"It's too late for your friends," replied Cell. The bulge in his tail finally merged with his body, and the familiar glow of evolution covered him. This time, however, the light didn't completely fade, but collected within his body, illuminating him brightly from the inside. The peals of electricity and fire that leapt across his skin cast eerie shadows in the pool of light that surrounded him. "Ah," he sighed contentedly. "The one power that could harm me, mine at last. Nothing stands in my way now."

Princess Serena's cold stare didn't waver in the slightest. "Moon Tiara Magic," she said darkly, not even bothering to shout the name of her signature attack. The tiara in her hand became a glowing discus.

"I've seen that before," Cell reminded her. "You don't honestly think it's going to work any better now just because you're in a dress, do you?"

"Your heart contains nothing but evil," said Princess Serena. "That is why I will strike you down! Enemy of mankind, prepare to be moon dust! YAH!" She pulled her arm back and hurled the discus in a blinding flash of light. The spectators on the roof had to shut their eyes, but the afterimage of the discus' trail remained in their vision long after the thunderous sonic boom of its flight had faded to silence. The light took a few seconds more to die down, finally allowing them to open their eyes and survey the destruction.

Cell stood exactly where he had been before, holding the discus disdainfully at arm's length. "Not bad," he conceded. "That almost hit me. But you still can't match my speed and power. Allow me to demonstrate." He wound up and threw the tiara back at Princess Serena with such speed that she couldn't get out of its path in time. She barely managed to twist in the air, leaving only her right side exposed to the projectile. It tore a chunk out of her abdomen as it flew past, throwing her backward beyond the edge of the quicksand below to land on the solid asphalt. Her dress shimmered and became the familiar fuku of Sailor Moon as she skidded to a halt. Blood quickly coated the fabric that covered her wound, instantly rendering her right half as dark as the blacktop beneath her.

Cell took his time in crossing the distance to Sailor Moon's side, while she pressed her left hand to her bleeding side in a vain effort to hold her insides in place. Sweat poured from her forehead as she fought a losing battle to stay awake. However, her heart lurched with each step that Cell took, and her breath quickened, adding even more blood to the pool forming around her. As he drew close, she weakly kicked her legs at the ground, trying to crawl away, but she didn't have the strength left to budge herself.

The sky was swimming before her eyes by the time Cell drew to a halt beside her, his toes sending tiny ripples through the puddle of blood. "I suppose it doesn't really matter how you survived my trap," he said. "All the more energy for me to absorb." He raised his tail and thrust it downward, aiming for Sailor Moon's stomach. Summoning all the strength that remained to her, Sailor Moon rolled aside, leaving only the empty space from the discus wound in the tail's path. The deadly point stabbed through the fabric and ended up embedded harmlessly in the asphalt.

Cell reached down and wrapped his fingers around Sailor Moon's throat, pulling her up to his face as he extracted his tail from her leotard. "So, you think you have some fight left in you?" he snarled.

"I'll never give up until I'm dead," croaked Sailor Moon.

"I believe that can be arranged," Cell replied calmly. He quickly brought his knee up, jamming it into Sailor Moon's stomach once, twice, thrice in quick succession. Her head slumped forward, and a thin stream of blood dribbled from the corner of her mouth. "Let's see you fight back now," he taunted.

Sailor Moon tried to respond, but the only thing that came out of her mouth was a thick glob of blood and mucus.

Cell tossed Sailor Moon to the ground, where she landed in a bloody heap. "Humans. Always trying to delay the inevitable." He raised his tail and prepared to stab her again while she was too weak to dodge.

A quiet whisper in his ear stopped him in mid-motion. "Pluto Deadly Scream." Before he knew what was happening, the Time Key that Pluto was holding at his side disgorged a powerful force that threw him clear across the courtyard. With the monster out of the way, Pluto quickly fell to her knees at Sailor Moon's side and rolled the girl onto her back.

Sailor Moon's eyes fluttered open to gaze glassily upon her rescuer. "Sailor... Pluto?"

Pluto nodded carefully, mindful of the dark patch of blood that covered most of her throat. "I wish I could do more for you, but all I have is this." She opened her hand to reveal a tiny bean between her fingers. "It is called a Senzu Bean... it comes from Cell's world, and it has the power to rejuvenate you. Eat it quickly so that you can defend yourself."

Pluto pressed the bean to Sailor Moon's lips, but Sailor Moon turned her head to avoid it. "But you need that bean. You're dying too...."

"But you are the one who can defeat Cell," said Pluto, forcing the Senzu Bean into Sailor Moon's mouth.

Sailor Moon chewed the bean a few times, then swallowed it. "No, I can't. I didn't take the Moon Scepter."

"You don't need it," Pluto assured her. "Just believe in the power you have, and it will -" The air in front of Sailor Moon's face exploded in a bright flash, sending Pluto flying. Sailor Moon quickly sat up and turned to face Cell as he lowered his arm.

"What an idiot," he said condescendingly. "If she could only gather one Senzu Bean, she should have used it herself. She, at least, was a worthy opponent." A smile crossed his lips. "Then again, it will be easy to absorb her power while she can't defend herself."

Sailor Moon leapt to her feet and spread her arms wide, not even noticing that the pain she'd felt before was gone. "If you want to get to Sailor Pluto, you'll have to fight me first!"

Cell smirked. "I believe we've already done that and seen the result. But if you insist...."

Undaunted, Sailor Moon reached behind her back and withdrew the Moon Crescent Wand. "I'm not going to lose this time!"

Cell opened his mouth wide, but instead of speaking, he spewed a wave of flames at Sailor Moon. The Scout stood firm, holding the Moon Crescent Wand in front of herself. The flames turned aside as they approached her, repelled by a curved barrier inches in front of the wand. Sailor Moon flinched from the heat of the flames, but the barrier held firm, preventing the fire from touching her.

Cell closed his mouth and straightened up to assess his opponent's new defense. "So, you've been holding back all this time. But it doesn't matter how much power you have. I will break it!" He raised a hand and let fly with a powerful jet of water. Sailor Moon's feet slid across the wet ground as the force of the water pushed her back, but the shield kept her completely dry.

"Give up, Cell!" warned Sailor Moon as the torrent stopped. "The power of the Moon Kingdom protects me!"

"Oh dear," Cell said mockingly. "Whatever shall I do?" Electricity crackled across his body, and Sailor Moon tightened her grip on the Moon Crescent Wand. However, when Cell unleashed his attack, the arc of electricity didn't even come close to her. Instead, it shot straight into the puddle of water at her feet, electrocuting the entire puddle with a high voltage charge - and Sailor Moon's body with it. The Sailor Scout screamed as the shock shot through her, throwing her backward. She landed on dry ground, barely keeping her grip on the wand, and immediately rolled aside as Cell's fist smashed into the ground where her head had been. She ended up on her feet, still twitching as the last of the electricity worked its way through her muscles.

"I'm impressed," scoffed Cell. "Most humans wouldn't be able to stand after an attack like that."

"Defending myself isn't going to be enough," said Sailor Moon. She aimed the Moon Crescent Wand at Cell. "COSMIC MOON POWER!" A thin beam of golden light shot forth from the Imperium Silver Crystal and hit Cell in the chest before he could dodge, carrying him with it as in radiated along its narrow path.

Cell quickly recovered his senses and dug his feet into the ground, blocking the beam with one hand. "You think this is enough to stop me?" he shouted, charging his palm with energy. He threw his arm up, redirecting the beam into the night sky. He took a few heavy breaths while he composed himself, then restored the confident smirk to his face. "That was more power than I was expecting from a human... but it still won't be enough!"

Sailor Moon winced as the combined effects of the electricity and the exertion of her attack hit her in a wave of pain. "It's no good," she whispered. "I just don't have enough power to damage him." She closed her eyes and prayed silently. "Mother, please.... I know you believe in me, but I can't do this alone. I need your strength, Mother. I need to feel your power within me."

"What are you doing over there?" asked Cell. "Waiting for the end?" He fired a large ball of energy at her, but she didn't flinch as it exploded against her shield.

"Please, Mother," continued Sailor Moon, her fingers clutching the wand in a deathgrip. "Give me the power to defeat this enemy and save my friends!"

It was a tiny sensation in the pit of her stomach at first, but the comforting warmth quickly spread to fill her entire body. As it flowed through her, every aching muscle it touched instantly relaxed, leaving only delicious relief in its wake. The warmth reminded her of the woman who had taken care of her since the day of her birth, but there was a familiar strength in it as well. It took her a few seconds to realize what the sensation was, because she hadn't expected such a powerful answer to her prayer. But that was what it was... the full, unadulterated power of a mother's love. Somehow, Queen Serenity had found a way to send her energy into the future, to the moment when her daughter would most need it.

Sailor Moon reached deep down inside herself and embraced the energy within, focusing it into the Moon Crescent Wand. It was going to be the most powerful attack she'd ever used, an all-or-nothing blast that would either destroy Cell or leave her powerless to defend herself. All the energy of the Moon Kingdom was in her hands now. She opened her eyes, raised the wand, and took aim. "COSMIC MOON -"

"That's it!" shouted Cell. His eyes narrowed to slits, and a pair of thin beams shot forth from them straight at Sailor Moon's heart. She barely had enough time to return the Moon Crescent Wand to the defensive position before the beams reached the shield. However, the invisible barrier merely bent the beams at an angle as they passed through, diverting one of them harmlessly past her left ear while the other shot right through her left shoulder, sending a spray of blood from the exit wound. Her arm fell limply to her side, and she dropped to her knees, pressing her right fist to the injured shoulder in an attempt to stem the blood flow. Her left hand rested on the hard ground, but she couldn't feel it. The entire arm was numb.

Cell cracked a smile. "As I expected. Your shield can block most of my attacks, but the pure love energy of the Crescent Beam passes through easily, even when tainted with my own energy." He shot another Twin Crescent Beam at Sailor Moon, who quickly raised the Moon Crescent Wand to block the beams. One beam struck the handle of the wand and fizzled, while the other refracted downward and just grazed her right knee.

Sailor Moon gritted her teeth against the pain in her leg and shoulder, focusing on the power of her mother's love within her. But the energy wasn't there. Somehow, in the shock of Cell's attack, she'd lost her link to the precious energy of the Moon Kingdom, and with it, her last hope. What little of her own energy remained wouldn't even make a dent in her opponent's defenses, let alone defeat him completely. She let the hand that still held the Moon Crescent Wand fall to the ground in despair as Cell's third attack struck her squarely in the forehead. Her tiara took most of the impact and broke into three pieces. The center piece landed on the ground in front of her with the inset jewel facing up, still softly glowing.

"I'm sorry, Mother," whispered Sailor Moon. "I wasted the energy you gave me."

"Nothing is wasted unless you allow it to be," Serenity's voice whispered back. "You can only truly be defeated if you give up."

"But there's no way I can win. I'm not strong enough."

"There is more to victory than strength," Serenity reminded her. "Cell relies entirely on his power to fight, and that is his weakness. You must defeat him with your intelligence, your courage, and your love. Those are your greatest weapons."

"My love?" repeated Sailor Moon. But the jewel's glow had faded, and her mother's voice was silent. Sailor Moon raised her eyes to her opponent, who was preparing to finish her off with a final Twin Crescent Beam. She had no love for that monster. But what other love could Serenity have meant? No matter. There was always intelligence and courage to fall back on, and what she lacked in the former, she more than made up for in the latter. Summoning all the courage she had, she raised the Moon Crescent Wand to block the incoming attack, positioning it carefully so that the beams would pass to either side of the Imperium Silver Crystal.

Cell smiled in anticipation as the beams hit the invisible shield, bending as they passed through. However, instead of turning outward as they had before, the beams curved inward and struck the crystal, which shone brilliantly as it absorbed them. Fueled by the energy of her opponent's own attack, Sailor Moon pushed herself to her feet, favoring her left leg. Ignoring the pounding of her heartbeat echoing in her head, she aimed the wand at Cell with her only functioning arm. "MOON CRESCENT BEAM ANNIHILATION!" she shouted, returning the energy in a beam that tore a gaping hole in Cell's chest.

Cell gasped and spat out a mouthful of purple ooze. "Impossible! It wasn't that powerful before!"

Sailor Moon allowed herself a sigh of relief. "It worked!" But as the blood running down her forehead seeped into her eyes, casting her vision into dark shades of red, she realized that it wasn't going to be enough. And she barely had enough energy left to stand, let alone continue to defend herself.

The sides of Cell's wound throbbed like an animal trying to break through a thick plastic sheet, spurting the purple blood in all directions. "I don't understand! You're just a human girl! You can't have this much power!" His lips curled into a devious grin. "Yes, of course. It's some kind of trick. You're not that strong! You can't defeat me!" With that, the wound repaired itself, and Cell launched himself at Sailor Moon, barely giving her time to raise the Moon Crescent Wand. He stopped short and spun around, swinging the rock-hard tip of his tail into the side of her head with bone-crushing force. She collapsed to the ground, covering the right side of her face with a hand while blood poured from between her fingers.

Cell took a few labored breaths and glared at the fallen Sailor Scout. "Wait.... Do you mean to tell me that all this time, while you blocked every technique I absorbed, you couldn't stop a basic physical attack? Is that all it takes to bring down the mighty Sailor Moon?" He coughed angrily, which became an enraged chuckle, and finally gave way to deep belly laughter.

"He's lost it," Ryoko said dryly.

Sailor Moon slowly sat up, using her blood-covered right hand to support herself. Her right eye could barely open a tiny crack, and all she could see through that crack was her own blood. But she kept her good eye on Cell while she struggled to her feet, wary of his apparent lapse of sanity. His fist lashed out before she could finish rising, pounding her in the stomach, but as she stumbled back, he pressed forward, punching her again and again so quickly that she didn't even have time to fall down between blows.

"Try to make a fool of me, will you?" shouted Cell indignantly. "Now who's impossible to damage?" He brought his foot up swiftly between her legs, sending her on a vertical ride into the sky at just under escape velocity. Sailor Moon squeezed her legs together, trying to hold back the pain in her crotch, but it was the sharp, shooting pain in her chest that worried her most. She tried to inhale, but none of the thin air of the upper atmosphere entered her lungs. She brought her hand up to her breasts and pressed lightly, hoping to clear the airway, but her touch felt like a knife sliding between her ribs. She could feel something shifting beneath her fingers - her ribs were either broken or completely crushed. She finally managed a startled gasp, which she immediately exhaled in a weak cough. The jagged edges of what remained of her ribcage were starting to scratch her insides, making her itch in a place she couldn't possibly scratch. And she was only now slowing down to begin her plummet back to Earth.

Breathe in, cough, cough, cough. Breathe in, cough, cough, cough. It was becoming a regular pattern now, making her compacted chest burn without pause. But at least it was getting air through her body, staving off the worst of the dizziness. It was also causing her to cough up more blood with each mile she fell. Even if she had enough to last until she hit the ground, the terminal velocity impact would surely kill her, and there were no more Senzu Beans waiting for her. She had to focus on something other than death, some kind of plan that would save her, and possibly even help her defeat Cell... but one thing at a time. She had to get her feet back on the ground first.

An image popped into her desperate mind - a scene from a spy movie, where the hero had used his jacket as a parachute to survive a normally fatal fall. Unfortunately, the sailor fuku once again proved to be completely impractical for such an application. The damn thing wasn't good for anything except eye candy for male opponents. Scratch that idea... but there was something else that might work instead of a parachute. She carefully twisted until she was facing the ground and held the Moon Crescent Wand in front of her, concentrating all of her energy into the shield that had protected her from so many of Cell's attacks. The air beneath her quickly became hot enough to burn her skin as the shield provided a bit of drag, slowing her down before impact.

It wasn't nearly enough. She slammed into the asphalt face first with a noise that was halfway between CRUNCH and SPLAT, then bounced higher than the top of Cell's head and flipped over before landing hard enough to bounce a second time, finally flopping onto her stomach as she came to rest in a giant pool of blood. She couldn't feel her legs at all anymore, but since the only sensation in the rest of her body was incredible pain, she was thankful for small favors.

"So, you survived that, too," observed Cell as he waded through the blood toward her prone form. "I'm not surprised anymore. You've got more energy than I thought it was possible for a human to possess. With that much energy, no power in all the universe could ever stand against me!"

Sailor Moon felt a twinge in her back as Cell stabbed her with his tail, barely missing her spine. She fought to raise her one good arm to pull it out, but her limb refused to respond to her command. She weakly opened her eye to see the bulges traveling up the length of his tail as he sucked the life out of her. Adrenaline pumped through her body as she watched her arm begin to wither away, but she was helpless to save herself. The most she could do in her defense was throw up, and she hoped to spare herself the effort.

Suddenly, the needle slipped out of its hole, and Cell spun around to face the dark shape that loomed behind him. "Nice try, Sailor Pluto. But you can't catch me by surprise twice."

Even with her ears filled with blood, Sailor Moon could hear Pluto's nervous swallow. "Cell, I will only ask you once more. You must cooperate with me or this universe will be destroyed, and it will take you with it!"

"And I suppose you have the power to prevent this cataclysm?" Cell remarked snidely.

"I do," said Pluto.

"Then I will have it, once I absorb you," replied Cell. "Problem solved."

"No, that's not -!" began Pluto, before Cell cut her off with a violent blow. Sailor Moon couldn't see what was happening, but judging from Sailor Pluto's cries of pain, Cell had the upper hand despite her threats. A few quick strikes later, and Pluto collapsed to the ground.

Tears filled Sailor Moon's eyes as the last echoes of the fight died away, leaving only her own pulse to break the silence. She wanted it to stop. Queen Serenity had given her a second chance after she'd failed to save her friends, and she'd blown it. Pluto had given her another chance, and she'd blown that too. Everyone had believed in her and put their lives on the line to protect her, and now what little remained of her body was lying in a pool of its own blood, powerless to prevent the ultimate destruction of the universe.

"Sailor Moon!"

Sailor Moon gasped at the sound, coughing almost immediately. It was Sailor Pluto's voice! "Sai-"

"Don't try to speak!" warned Sailor Pluto. "I'm only pretending to be unconscious. I'm speaking directly into your mind so that Cell can't hear me. Please, listen carefully. This is the only chance we have to set the timeline right. I must tell you something that you won't like to hear, but I must explain myself quickly.

"It is written that you will defeat Beryl by merging your power with that of the other Sailor Scouts - and that they must sacrifice their lives to bring that about. Don't say anything!" she snapped, as Sailor Moon was about to do just that. "It is history, and that must not change. The universe depends on it!

"The Sailor Scouts have already sacrificed their lives by becoming part of Cell. There is only one way to turn that sacrifice into a victory now. You must lure Cell into the Negaverse, where he will use that power to defeat Queen Beryl in your stead. It is not exactly according to history, but it will have to be close enough. It is the only way that the rightful timeline can be restored. Do not worry... you and the other Scouts will be resurrected once Beryl is dead. I will see to it.

"I'm using the last of my power to open the portal beside you. Summon whatever strength you can and get through it. Once you're on the far side, I'll return to the Gate of Time, where Cell can't reach me. He'll have to follow you, and the portal will close behind him."

Sailor Moon's body shivered, and a chill filled her withered bones. Something felt very wrong with the world.

"The paradox has begun! Quickly, before I become one with Cell!"

She could feel the evil seeping from the portal, and the cracks in the universe that heralded the impending breakdown of the fabric of space and time. The Negaverse was so close to her, the hatred that filled the place washing over her like surf as the portal disgorged its intangible contents. If she could just roll over, she'd pass through it out of the crumbling world, and she could die in peace, her last heroic act the one that saved the world once and for all.

But her friends would remain dead. Being resurrected wasn't the same as not dying in the first place. She could tell in Pluto's tone that there was something Pluto had failed to tell her, something important that they would lose in the transition. She couldn't let that happen! She'd come back to save her friends, not sacrifice them!

"Please," she begged, ignoring Pluto's admonition against speaking aloud. "Somebody... give me the power to save my friends."

With that, she lay down to die, the plea her last vestige in the living world. There was nobody left to respond. But then she felt it flowing into her body - warm energy that reminded her of how great it felt to be near her friends, studying or playing video games or even just hanging out. She could feel the presence of the Sailor Scouts in her, somehow. They were still alive inside Cell, and they were sending her all the energy they could to fuel her last effort to save them. This time, she couldn't waste it. There would be no more chances. She pushed herself up to her knees, her entire body aching but able to move once again.

Cell turned to face her with Sailor Pluto halfway up his tail. He groaned and put a palm to his forehead. "Again? What are you, a Saiyan?"

Ignoring Cell's incomprehensible taunt, she rose to her feet, her legs shaking violently under her weight, and raised the Moon Crescent Wand over her head. If the Sailor Scouts were indeed alive, there was one thing that might save them, and she had to try it, even if it killed her. She slowly traced a vertical circle around herself with the tip of the crescent. "Moon... Healing... Activation!" she called out with as much force as she could, barely more than a whisper.

Cell laughed as the golden light washed over and through him. "Healing? Now I've heard everything. What exactly do you intend to do by healing m-" He retched and quickly covered his mouth as if trying to prevent himself from throwing up. His gut began to expand like a rapidly inflating basketball. "No! What are you doing to me!" he shouted. "This can't be! I can't control the energy!"

Sailor Pluto popped out of Cell's tail and fell to the ground, quickly rolling to a safe distance as Cell grew to the size of a minivan. His skin began to bulge in places, as if something inside were trying to force its way out. Then, with a final scream of agony and despair and a bright flash, he exploded, showering the entire courtyard with purple ooze.

Ranma wiped as much of the gook from his face as he could. "So much for him," he noted dryly.

"What the hell happened?" demanded Ryoko. "I thought we had that one in the bag!"

"I think Cell bit off more than he could chew... literally," said Lina. She pointed to the large pile of Sailor Scouts that now occupied the space where Cell had stood.

Sailor Venus, on the top of the stack, was the first one to wake up. "Huh? What's going on? Am I dead or something?"

"I don't think so," Mercury groaned from the bottom of the pile. "I wouldn't be in this much pain if I were. Would you all mind getting off my back now?"

"Yeah, somebody up there needs to lose some weight!" complained Uranus.

Venus quickly slid off to the ground. "Is everyone okay?"

Mars sat up and rubbed her stomach. "Yeah, I'm fine. I can't even feel where Cell stabbed me."

Venus reached up to help Mars to the ground and found herself staring at her own arm. She rubbed the purple muck from her forearm in amazement. "Hey! My scar's gone!"

Jupiter rolled off the pile and took a look for herself. "Yeah, you're right. I think my knee's back to normal, too."

"I'm feeling perfectly fine again," announced Neptune as Uranus rose and helped her to her feet. "It seems we've all been healed completely."

"But how?" asked Mars. "What happened to us? And what happened to Cell?"

"I'd say it looks like he blew himself up," said Uranus, brushing the drying ooze from her body.

"Or someone else blew him up," suggested Mercury, as she finally stood up. She blushed and quickly turned away from the naked man at the bottom of the pile, wiping her hand on her leotard. "But where's Sailor Moon?"

Venus shook her head sadly. "She wasn't absorbed by Cell, like the rest of us. She just... died."

Mars' eyes widened. "No! Not Sailor Moon!" She stepped back from the group and looked around, searching for any sign of their leader. "Look! There's someone there!"

The Sailor Scouts started to move toward the human-shaped mound of purple slime, but the form of the Time Key rose from it, and Sailor Pluto sat up.

"Pluto! You're all right!" Uranus cried joyously, while the Inner Scouts tried not to look as disappointed as they were.

Pluto disgustedly spat out a mouthful of Cell and chuckled under her breath. "She did it. She found a way to beat the paradox. I swear, I will never understand that girl."

"Who did it?" asked Mars, anticipating the answer she knew couldn't possibly come.

"Sailor Moon," replied Pluto, pointing past the Sailor Scouts to the other girl hidden under the thick layer of slime. She wasn't moving, but Venus ran to her side anyway, hauling her up out of the murk and cradling her.

At first, it appeared that she was just tired from the effort of fighting Cell, but as the ooze dripped from her body, the bloodstains and wounds began to show clearly, and Venus had to fight to avoid vomiting for the third time that night. Had it been the first, she wouldn't have been able to hold back. She wiped the slime off Sailor Moon's face and pushed her head up. "Sailor Moon? Are you okay?"

For several moments, it appeared that Sailor Moon's silence would be the only answer. Then, her left eye fluttered open and focused on Venus, and a smile crossed her lips. "You're... alive...!"

Venus returned the smile as best she could without bursting into tears. "Yeah. We're all just fine."

"I'm... so glad," said Sailor Moon. With that, her body went limp, and her uniform smoothly transformed into her casual outfit.

This time, Venus cried openly. "Sailor Moon! No! Don't die!"

"Hold on!" said Mercury, taking her knees at Serena's other side. She carefully pressed two fingers to Serena's throat and her ear to the girl's mouth. "She's still alive," Mercury announced. "But we have to get her to a hospital right away!"

"I'll take her," announced Tuxedo Mask. He stepped past Sailor Mercury and bent down to pick up his future wife, holding her as gently as a newborn baby.

"Hurry!" urged Mercury. "She doesn't have much time left!"

"Wait!" Pluto called out as she got to her feet, using the butt of the Time Key as a cane. "Go through the Gate of Time. It's the quickest way."

Uranus watched Pluto wobble unsteadily. "Are you sure you should be doing that?" she asked. "You look like you need to get to the hospital yourself!"

"I'm immortal," Pluto reminded her. "A little thing like a throat wound won't kill me." She raised the Time Key, and the dark portal opened beside Tuxedo Mask. "Take care of her well. She must survive!"

Tuxedo Mask nodded wordlessly and leapt through the portal, which closed behind him.

Mars sighed. "This is bad, you guys. Sailor Moon's going to be out of battle for who knows how long, and our enemies could attack again at any time?"

"It will be soon," Pluto announced darkly. "Very soon. Cell will return."

"But I thought Sailor Moon blew him up!" argued Uranus. "Are you saying he can come back from THAT?"

Pluto nodded. "Even the goo covering this courtyard is enough to reconstruct his entire body. It will take some time, but he will return as powerful as before."

"Then what can we do?" asked Jupiter. "How can we beat him without Sailor Moon?"

"You can't," replied Pluto. "Your power simply isn't enough. I should have interceded sooner last time, but I was afraid of the consequences of taking action. This time, I know the danger of not acting quickly enough. I will be ready for his return."

"What are you going to do?" asked Neptune.

"I must summon another warrior to fight beside you," said Pluto. "I can only hope that she will agree to help us."

"Another warrior?" asked Neptune. "You don't mean... the one you were going to bring if Uranus and I refused?"

"Yes, our last resort. A warrior more powerful than any of you, but that much more unstable. And because of her situation, her presence in this timeline will make a paradox that much more likely. But without her help, the paradox is certain."

"Who is she?" asked Uranus. "Is she someone we know?"

"Yes, and no," replied Pluto. "You will know her soon enough... it would be folly to bring her here while you know nothing of her. I will grant you the memory of her past - and your future." She took a deep breath and clasped the Time Key in both hands. "There. The story will be told - it will be part of the One True Timeline soon enough."

"What do you mean?" asked Mars. "One True Timeline?"

"It's complicated," said Uranus. "It's something to do with trees and books and probably noodles."

Pluto smirked and shook her head. "I will return soon, Sailor Scouts. Pray that I am not alone when I do." With that, she opened the Gate of Time and stepped inside.

"So, what do we do now?" asked Jupiter as the portal closed.

"We wait," replied Uranus.

Up on the rooftop, Ranma sat back and considered what he'd seen. "That girl who was Sailor Moon..." he mused. "I know her."

And then the flood of memories came, and for several minutes, they could focus on nothing else.


	21. Fall 1: Prelude to Destruction

The Fall of the Crystal Millennium

A General Time Paradox sidestory

Chapter 1: Prelude to Destruction

The chairman stepped up to the podium and cleared his throat. "I hereby call this meeting of the Coalition of Civilized States to order at 2:52 p.m., Greenwich Mean Time, October 5, 2986."

"So noted, Herr Director," replied the secretary, watching the numbers flash across his screen.

"I will now turn the floor over to President Auberge of the nation of France," said the chairman, blinking out and appearing in his seat behind the podium. The French president stood up and disappeared, reappearing at the podium facing the representatives from every country on Earth as well as the few colonies on other planets that had been granted representation in the coalition.

"Ladies and gentlemen," began the president, addressing the sea of holographic faces, "I come before you today with a message that is not news to any of us, but bears grave significance for us all. This news concerns the denizens of the colony known as the New Moon Kingdom."

A representative of the New Moon Kingdom stood up abruptly. "I would like it stated on record that the New Moon Kingdom was not made aware of the agenda of this meeting in advance!"

"The comment is out of order," said the chairman. The secretary obligingly wiped it from his screen.

"Your presence here is only a matter of formality," said Auberge. "We will of course require you to leave before the final vote."

Sailor Venus joined her partner in standing. "That's not fair!" she protested.

"That is a matter for the entire coalition to decide," replied Auberge. "The vote of removal need not be unanimous if the vote concerns your nation directly. And I feel that it does."

Venus sneered at him, but she knew the law as well as anyone. She sat down heavily and waited for her partner to do the same.

"Thank you," Auberge continued, his tone openly mocking her. "Now, as you all know, there was a recent event that we have only been able to describe as a 'loss-of-time epidemic'. Somehow, in a space that not one person on Earth remembers, two years have passed. Our crops died, unharvested; buildings fell into disrepair; power plants wound down and stopped running; computers controlling every aspect of our lives shut down, many of them losing irreplaceable data. Our way of life nearly ended, and people are still toiling in every nation to restore what was lost and return our world to the prosperity we once knew.

"But this event was not completely without explanation. No, the woman who 'rules' the New Moon Kingdom, this Neo-Queen Serenity, has told us what happened during those two years. All of us, every human alive, were frozen in time, while aliens from a planet called Nemesis tried to take over our world. But somehow, despite the fact that all of us were unable to act, they were thwarted. How? By a group of women called Sailor Scouts, led by the Moon Princess, Rini. A girl of no more than eleven, whose birth records are dated nearly ninety years ago!"

"All of that is true!" Venus put in, on her feet again.

"With respect, Miss Venus," the president interrupted, "your own records date back to the twentieth century. Yet even with our greatest life-enhancing technology, no human can live for more than three hundred years, and even then, their minds deteriorate into a state of living death. So how, with only thousand-year-old technology, could you possibly have lived over a thousand years?"

"Are you saying the records are wrong?" snapped Venus. "I thought they were absolutely foolproof. The Big Brother program makes sure all data is recorded and verified, doesn't it?"

"Everywhere except the New Moon Kingdom," Auberge smoothly replied. "But the matter of imposing our data collection methods on outlying colonies is a matter for another time. Madam, if you will permit me?"

Venus' partner had to forcibly pull her back into her seat.

"We all know your explanation for both your longevity and our deliverance from the Nemesians," said Auberge. "Your queen called it 'Power of the Planets'. It seems like a miraculous thing, this Power of the Planets. It grants immortality, fighting strength, and indeed, the power to render an entire low-gravity, zero-atmosphere moon inhabitable by humans, if the histories of the twenty-third century are to be believed. In fact, it seems like it would be beneficial to all of mankind for this secret of Planetary Power to be turned over to the world's scientific community, so that we may all benefit from it."

Venus pulled out of her partner's grip and appeared on the speaking floor. "That can't be done! Humans were never meant to possess Planet Power!"

"Then, are you not human?" retorted Auberge. Murmurs rose from the assembly. "I believe the clause was added to our bylaws several hundred years ago requiring all representatives to be human."

"Now, see here!" began the chairman, but he was ignored.

"I am human," replied Venus. "But I'm different. All of us Sailor Scouts are. We were chosen by the planets to guard their power and use it to protect humanity."

"But this lapse of time proves that you aren't doing your job!" Auberge pointed out gleefully. "Because we ordinary humans lack your Planetary Power, we were helpless before these alien invaders. Wouldn't we be better served by giving us this power to defend ourselves?"

"Yeah! Give us Planet Powers!" shouted a voice from the crowd. Everyone looked around, unable to tell who had called out. One of the East Canadian delegates smacked her partner's elbow.

"W-we can't do that!" Venus protested, feeling trapped. "It's just not possible!"

"Why not?" countered Auberge. "Explain for us how it works, and why you can't give it to us."

"I don't know," said Venus. "Sailor Mercury might know, but she's not allowed in our closed sessions...."

"Then perhaps you could have her prepare a report for us before our next meeting," offered Auberge. "I think we're all looking forward to hearing it."

"We don't need you antagonizing our members!" shouted the chairman. "Mister Auberge, if you would please dispense with the personal discussion and get back to the matter at hand. And Miss Venus, please return to your seat at once."

"Yes, Herr Director," they both said sheepishly as Venus shifted back to her place.

Auberge raised his hands. "Now, since the next matter is rather sensitive, I must ask that the representatives from the New Moon Kingdom remove themselves from the room."

"I second!" called out a Moroccan delegate.

The chairman sighed. "All in favor?"

"AYE!" shouted most of the room.

"The ayes have it," announced Auberge. Venus and her partner vanished.

"You're making a mockery of our organization, you know," the chairman muttered.

Auberge reached out of the range of the hologram and returned with a book, which he dropped noisily onto the floor. "Ladies and gentlemen, this is a book of the history of the late twentieth century and early twenty-first. I will tell you what became of my country in those years, and why we were nearly destroyed. We failed to recognize threats to our country because we trusted other nations, and were willing to do anything to avoid fighting a war... including giving our enemies more time to prepare for that war."

"You mean to declare a pre-emptive strike on the New Moon Kingdom?" asked the Nebraskan representative.

"Warmonger!" shouted a delegate from Chinese Ural.

"I am not the warmonger," spat Auberge. "It is the New Moon Kingdom who hoards power that they claim we cannot match. It is they who know of this time-freezing power and do not disclose its true nature, instead naming planets that our best astronomers cannot find. It is they who ask us to place our unfettered trust in them while they defend us from threats only they can see!"

"That is not true!" put in a delegate from Honshuu. "We have records of creatures attacking humans throughout our nation in the twentieth and twenty-fourth centuries!"

"In those days, anything could be written down, whether or not it was true," said Auberge. "And still, in the New Moon Kingdom, that remains true. We cannot trust anything they tell us."

"I thought we weren't discussing Big Brother," an Eastern States of America delegate slyly noted.

"We are not," replied Auberge. "Instead, I suggest we investigate the New Moon Kingdom ourselves and satisfy our curiosity in that way."

"You propose an invasion without the consent of the New Moon Kingdom?" asked the chairman. "That would be an act of war!"

"We will seek their consent first, of course," said Auberge. "But ultimately, we must know the truth. What is the power that they hide from us, and what threat does it pose?"

"Do you really think Planet Power is a threat?" asked the ESA delegate who had spoken up earlier.

Auberge took a deep breath as if preparing to deliver a prepared speech. "We don't truly understand Planet Power. It could be nearly anything. It could be of great benefit to mankind, but without being able to study it, we will never know. It is just as likely that the reason the New Moon Kingdom will not give us Planet Power is that it is in fact a great weapon, which they are hoarding under the pretense of needing to protect us from invaders that we cannot detect."

A Dutch German representative stood up. "Then that IS what you are suggesting... that the New Moon Kingdom has fabricated this entire event as a way to gain our trust?"

"It is a strong possibility," replied Auberge. "However, we do not want to make false accusations. We only wish to learn the truth, to reassure ourselves that there is no threat... or if there is a threat, to disarm it swiftly before it can be brought against us."

Throughout the room, heads nodded. "We have a right to the truth!" announced the East Canadian with the sore elbow.

"Then here is my proposal:" Auberge said with finality. "We will demand to see the true nature of Planet Power and will determine for ourselves, as a coalition of nations, whether it may be allowed to remain solely in the hands of the New Moon Kingdom."

Someone in the back of the room clapped their hands at that declaration, and it wasn't long before the rest of the room had joined in for a standing ovation.

The chairman turned to the secretary. "What do our laws say about this?" he asked.

The secretary searched his database. "This is a valid proposition," he announced. "We vote on it without the presence of the nation in question, then take two weeks to prepare a fact-finding mission with the consent of their governing body. Without consent, we need to take another vote with their representatives present before an unauthorized invasion can begin."

Auberge smiled. "Then let us have a vote."

"I second," said the Moroccan delegate.

"All in favor?"

"AYE!"

"Unanimous," said Auberge with a smile, although a few scattered audience members had not spoken.

"So noted," replied the secretary.

*************************************************

It seemed just like any other day in the New Moon Kingdom. The weather was clear, as it had been since the influence of the Dark Crystal was broken, and the level of moon dust in the air was only slightly above average for mid-month. The sun was just beginning to rise over the Crystal Palace, its slanted beams creating the famous beautiful Murals of Light in the hallways which were one of the two reasons Neo-Queen Serenity had chosen this time of the month to hold audience with her subjects. She considered it improper to speak of the other reason.

It hadn't taken long to recover from the time-lapse, particularly under the guidance of Sailor Mercury's knowledge and Sailor Mars' spiritual blessings. Already, it was difficult to find any signs that the New Moon Kingdom had ever been less than a prosperous, thriving community full of happy people, all of whom had a useful place in society and enough money to support their families. In fact, in all of the land, there was only one person who wasn't thankful for all that they had. That person was Neo-Queen Serenity herself, who was suffering from a rare stomach virus that day. Even the power of the Silver Crystal that protected the people of the kingdom could not erase all traces of disease, it seemed. Her doctors wanted her to lie down and try to sleep it off, but she had important duties, and she considered the ache merely an inconvenience. As long as the sickness would not spread, and the doctors assured her that it would not, she would hold audience with King Darien and hear nothing to change her mind.

But peace did not come easily that morning. The sound of running footsteps echoed through the empty halls in the wee hours before the hearings began. Before Darien could shout a warning, Princess Rini barreled across the room and leapt into her mother's lap. "Mommy! Mommy! You're awake!"

Serenity smiled down at her as warmly as she could, fighting back the pain that welled up in her chest. "Good morning, Small Lady. What are you so excited about?"

Rini frowned in disappointment. "Don't you remember? You promised we would go on a picnic today, before the boring meetings start."

Serenity sighed sadly. "Yes, I did. I would love to eat breakfast with you in the garden, but I'm feeling a bit ill today. I'm afraid we'll have to have our picnic another day."

"But you promised!" whined Rini.

"Your mother said no," Darien scolded her firmly. "She's in no mood for your tantrums today."

"But, Daddy!" Rini whined.

"No means no!" snapped Darien.

Serenity put her hand on his leg. "Don't be so cross, dear," she urged. "I'm sorry I can't keep my promise. I would love to spend the morning with you, but I doubt that either of us would enjoy it much while I'm not feeling well."

Rini's lips drew tight as she tried to bite back her disappointment. "All right," she said at last. "I understand." She reached up and lightly brushed a tear from Serenity's cheek. "Just promise me you'll feel better soon."

"I promise," agreed Serenity. "And that is a promise that I intend to keep."

Rini hopped off the throne and made to leave the room, but stopped short as she saw Sailor Venus approaching, garbed in her robes of state. The formal dress always meant that something important was going on, and it was probably more fun than playing alone in her room would be. She slunk back to the side of Serenity's throne and did her best to avoid notice.

Sailor Venus stopped at the foot of the throne and fell to one knee in a bow. "Queen Serenity, I bring news from Earth."

"Rise, Sailor Venus," said Serenity, observing the protocol as befitted her station. "What is your news?"

Sailor Venus stood. "It's not much, I'm afraid. We were forced to leave the room before President Auberge gave the details of his plan."

"What do you know of the plan?" Serenity asked patiently.

"Your intuition was correct, my Queen. The people of Earth mistrust us after the recent invasion of Nemesis. Many of them blame us for the 'loss of time epidemic', as they call it."

"I see." Serenity's expression grew grim. "I had hoped to sway those fears, but it seems that their natural distrust is not so easily overcome."

"I believe that the government of France, and possibly some of their supporters, hope to gain Planet Power for their own use," continued Venus.

"That cannot be done," said Serenity. "Planet Power rests within the souls of the Sailor Scouts. Other humans should not be able to touch it."

"Perhaps that's true," agreed Venus. "But these are the same humans who, a thousand years ago, believed that flight was impossible. With what little technology they had, they overcame that false belief. Now, with those thousand years of advanced technology, they approach the light barrier more and more every year. Even if gaining Planet Power is impossible, they will stop at nothing to have it."

Serenity's face darkened even more. "Yes, you are right. And as Sailor Mercury might say, the risk is always there. My own daughter managed to control the power of the Silver Crystal - who can tell what people might do, if it were to fall into the wrong hands?"

"The Silver Crystal is under constant guard," Venus reminded her. "And those guards answer directly to the Sailor Scouts. Not even Princess Rini is allowed near it anymore." She gave Rini a meaningful glare at that, and it took all of Rini's willpower not to hide behind the throne to escape it.

Serenity nodded. "We need not worry about the people of Earth gaining Planet Power. What worries me is what they might do in their attempt to obtain it. As you made clear, they will stop at nothing, and their actions might threaten the peace of the New Moon Kingdom. That must not happen."

"We should try to find out what Auberge is planning," Darien put in. "We can't influence the political machine unless we know that much."

Venus nodded. "I'll contact our allies on Earth who were present at the conference and try to learn what I can. I only hope that their loyalty to us exceeds their fear of Auberge. France has become very powerful in the past century."

Serenity smiled. "Even after all this time, the governments of Earth are still run by more men than women. You have quite a commendable record in influencing men."

Venus blushed. "My Queen... that wouldn't be right!" she said bashfully.

"Do what you feel you must," commanded Serenity. "Serve the New Moon Kingdom and its people with all your heart."

"And with all my spirit, all my intelligence, all my strength, and all my courage," Venus finished. She nodded. "Don't worry. I'll find out what's going on and let you know as soon as I do." She turned and left the room, plucking a communicator from the air as she crossed the threshold.

Eager to find out what was going on and possibly have something to do for the rest of the day, Rini followed and listened to the conversation. "Monique? Venus. Some urgent business for you."

"Yes, ma'am!" her chief of affairs readily agreed.

"I need you to contact our allies on Earth and see if you can arrange a meeting with any of them. Press them as hard as you have to. Try Honshuu first... they've always been close to us. If you can't get the heads of state, anyone on the CCS will do. If you can't get them, try the colonies on Mars and Venus, Nebraska, Australia, Mozambique... hell, if we run out of other people, go straight to France if you have to. We're that desperate."

"I'll leave no database entry unchecked," Monique assured her.

"Good. If they ask what it's about..." - she took a deep breath - "go ahead and tell them it's about this morning's meeting. If they're going to be willing to talk to us at all, they're probably as disgusted with the whole affair as I am. They might talk to us just to spite Auberge."

"Play the spite card liberally," repeated Monique. "Got it."

"Thanks. Let me know the minute you've got something. Venus out." She closed the communicator and let it vanish. Her robe shimmered and became her usual Sailor Scout uniform as sh spun around to face Rini. "Something I can help you with, Small Lady?"

Rini couldn't help blushing as she realized that Venus had been aware of her presence all along. Had the woman not wanted her to listen, she would have sent her away sooner. Rini swallowed and spoke up. "Mom said she'd have a picnic with me this morning, but now she's sick, so I don't have anything to do."

Venus put a finger on the side of her mouth. "Well, I would say I'm busy, but with my staff handling things, I don't expect anything to happen for a few hours. So, I suppose I could play with you for a bit, until -"

"Yay!" cheered Rini.

"So, what do you want to do?" asked Venus. "Want to go ice skating?"

Rini shook her head. "Nah, I did that last night. What about hide-and-seek?"

Venus considered the idea. "It sounds good. Boundaries are the Sea of the Guardians wing, minus the living quarters, so we don't get in anyone's way. Okay?"

"Okay!" agreed Rini. "Give me a hundred counts to hide!"

Venus stepped to the wall and covered her eyes, then began to count slowly. Rini quickly set off into the Sea of the Guardians wing, turning the first corner she came to and stepping as quietly as possible. Both she and Sailor Venus knew this part of the palace like the back of their hands, but there was no shortage of clever places to hide, and Rini always managed to find a new one somewhere in the expansive hallways.

She rounded another corner and came to the main storage hallway, a nearly interminable stretch of crystal corridor lined with doors. One could potentially hide in one of them for hours while their pursuer combed them one by one, but somehow, Venus usually managed to guess which one Rini was hiding in within a few tries. Still, it was usually a good spot for a first round, so Rini set off down the hallway and tried to forget how many doors she'd passed.

She found herself drawn to one of the doors on the right side. It didn't look at all different from the hundreds of other identical doors, but somehow, it felt important in a way that she couldn't explain. She'd felt something similar the day that she'd found her way into the Silver Crystal's chamber, but that had been awe at the power of the object rather than what she felt now, which was more of a sense of duty. She was meant to be here, somehow.

She heard footsteps coming from the end of the corridor and knew that she'd run out of time. She quickly stepped forward, watching the door disintegrate as she approached, then crossed the now-unbarred threshold and entered the storeroom. The door closed behind her as she entered, and she was left in darkness. She gasped in surprise - she'd never seen the interior lights of the palace fail, even when Queen Serenity and the Sailor Scouts had been frozen in time. Only when the time came for sleep did a room darken below a comfortable level for sight... yet this room had no light at all. She took a careful step backward, and the crystals of the door began to disappear one at a time, letting the light in from the hallway - as well as the sound of Venus' footsteps, right outside the door. Rini quickly picked out the silhouette of a stack of boxes and ran through the darkness to hide behind it.

Unfortunately, the door opened before she could cross the distance. "There you are, Small Lady," said Venus. "You picked a good spot this time. I almost didn't even notice this door here at all."

"They all look the same," agreed Rini. "But you found me."

Venus smiled. "Don't worry. I'll hide someplace easy. You'll find me in no time."

"Okay!" said Rini. Venus left the room, and the door closed, leaving Rini in darkness again. "Oh, I should have asked her about the lights in this room," she said belatedly. "Oh well." She covered her eyes, mostly out of habit, and began to count. "One, two, three..."

"... sixty-nine, seventy, seventy-one..." The door opened, and Rini blinked in the sudden brightness. She could make out a person's shape in the doorway, but couldn't identify her until she spoke.

"Are you still in here, Small Lady?" asked Venus. "I got worried when you couldn't find me, but I thought you were at least looking for me!"

"I hadn't finished counting," replied Rini. "I was only up to seventy."

Venus put her hands on her hips. "It took you over an hour to count to seventy? No way."

"It hasn't been an hour," Rini protested. "I don't count THAT slowly. It was maybe two minutes."

"Are you feeling okay?" asked Venus, stepping into the room to feel Rini's forehead for signs of a fever. As she left the vicinity of the door, it closed, enveloping them both in darkness. "Hey! What happened to the lights?"

"It's been dark like this since I got here," replied Rini. "The lights must be broken."

"The lights don't break," said Venus worriedly. "They're powered by the magic of the Silver Crystal. And if that's breaking down again...."

Rini shivered. The room suddenly felt much colder. "Let's get out of here. I'm scared."

"I'm with you," agreed Venus. There was a short pause. "Do you remember which way the door was?"

"How could you forget where the door is?" shouted Rini.

"I wasn't paying attention when I stepped into the room," Venus replied sheepishly. "I wasn't expecting the lights to go out like this."

"Well, it has to be around here somewhere!" said Rini. "Just feel around until you find it!" She groped in the darkness, moving toward where she'd last heard Venus' voice. She heard Venus shuffling around to her left and turned to avoid her, only to smack into a stack of boxes. She grabbed one of the boxes to steady it, but she still heard the crash as the uppermost box fell from the stack, spilling hundreds of tiny objects across the floor. Venus jumped in surprise and tripped over Rini, losing her balance. She grabbed blindly in the darkness as she went down, hoping to find something to break her fall, and her fingers closed around a thin string. It wasn't enough to hold her up, but as she tugged on it, a small glass globe lit up, immediately illuminating the room with just enough light to blind both of them.

"I can't see!" whined Rini. "The lights are on and I still can't see!"

"It's what used to happen back when lights came on suddenly," Venus explained. "It goes away after a while."

"I know. I was in the past a few months ago, remember?"

"Well, it was a long time ago for me." Venus rubbed her eyes and blinked a few times. "Okay, I can almost see now. How about you?"

"I'm fine." Rini picked up the box and returned it to its place atop the stack. "Look at all this stuff. It looks like junk."

Venus stared through the last of the spots at the collection of articles on the floor. There were a few books, but most of the clutter was assorted knickknacks that seemed somehow familiar, even though she couldn't remember having seen them before. She bent down and picked up the largest pieces of what appeared to be a shattered ceramic cow. "Do you recognize any of this stuff?"

Rini examined the scattered objects carefully. "Yeah, now that you mention it... didn't this stuff use to belong to Mommy, way back in the past?"

Venus gasped. "You're right! I remember now! She had shelves full of these things! But it's been almost a thousand years... how could this stuff still be in such good condition?" She let the pieces of cow fall to the floor. "Well, it WAS in good condition...."

"Ooh, this is pretty," said Rini, holding up a small star-shaped locket with a dome lid covering its center. She pulled the lid back to reveal a small crest embossed with a crescent moon, which began to spin slowly as the music box played a haunting tune. Venus recognized the song almost immediately, although she hadn't heard it in centuries. It was the tune that had inspired the theme song of the show she and the other girls had worked on in the early twenty-first century, back when the world still respected them and their twenty-something hearts still yearned for the glamour of being on television. The show had suffered quite a bit from plot problems and cheesy effects (after seeing live monsters, the costumed actors and animatronics had been impossible to take seriously), but people were willing to watch just to see the real Sailor Scouts in action. The theme song had been a particular hit, eventually being translated into nearly seventy languages and released as a top-selling single long before the ill-fated soundtrack album. But contrary to the upbeat, energetic feel of the full song, the tinny chimes of the music box made the song sound as sad as it was romantic. It almost hurt to listen to it, as it brought back memories of those times long past, when she'd still harbored illusions that she could safely fall in love and envied Sailor Moon's romance only because she hadn't found one of her own yet....

"Is something wrong?" Rini asked innocently.

Venus reached out and slammed the lid shut, silencing the eerie song. "No. Just a little nostalgic." She took the locket from Rini and carefully placed it back in the box from which it had fallen. "You know... I think I remember that locket."

"Mommy used to really like that locket," Rini recalled.

"Yeah, it was the first thing Darien ever gave her." Venus fretted. "I wonder why she'd leave it in here. I thought she'd keep something this precious with her wherever she went."

"Maybe this is where she keeps all her most special stuff," Rini suggested as she resumed picking up the strewn objects and putting them into the box. "That might be why the lights didn't work."

"Oh, they work, all right," said Venus, looking up at the bare bulb that hung from the ceiling. "Lights used to work that way, remember? You had to flip a switch or pull a string to turn them on."

"I never saw one with a string before," replied Rini.

"The lights in attics always worked this way," explained Venus. "Nobody really knows why."

"Hey, Sailor Venus, take a look at this!" cried Rini, pulling a heart-shaped locket out of one of the larger piles. "Wasn't this Mommy's old transformation locket?"

"Sure looks like it," agreed Venus. "Boy, it's been centuries since I saw that old thing."

"Why is it in storage?" asked Rini. "What if Mommy needs it someday to become Sailor Moon again?"

"She won't," affirmed Venus. "She swore never to use its power that way again. In fact, I thought she'd had it destroyed, but I guess she just hid it with the rest of her stuff and forgot about it." She paused, again suppressing a powerful memory from her past. "You'd better put it back."

"But I want to keep it! It reminds me of all the fun times we had together in the past."

"There are some things your mother wouldn't want to remember," said Venus. "Seeing that locket would be very painful for her."

"Why?" Rini asked casually. "What doesn't she want to remember?"

Venus shuddered. "There were a lot of battles you weren't there for," she replied.

Rini hugged the locket to her chest. "Well, anyway, I'm going to keep it. Maybe if I hide it in my room, she won't have to see it."

"As long as you don't use it, that might work," joked Venus.

Rini chuckled. "I can't use it! I don't have Planet Power!"

Venus smiled nervously. "Yeah, I guess not."

"I mean, what would my transformation phrase be? Small Lady Power?"

"I think it was Mini Prism Power," Venus muttered quietly.

"Mini Prism Power?" repeated Rini. The locket glowed brightly in her hands. "Whoa! Something's happening!" The locket opened, and the light from within poured over Rini. When it faded, she was wearing a pink sailor fuku that looked made for her diminutive body. "Wow! Look at me!" she cried, examining her new outfit. "I look like a real Sailor Scout!"

"You are," whispered Venus, wondering what she'd just done. "You're the Sailor Scout of the Crystal Moon." And I sure hope you were supposed to find out about it this way, she added silently.

"Crystal Moon? I thought the Moon was Mommy's planet."

"She's given up the Moon's power," replied Venus. "It's been passed on to you now, Sailor Mini-Moon."

"Sailor Mini-Moon...." Her fingers closed around the locket, which was now a pink star small enough to fit in her hand easily. "Are you sure I'm not dreaming?"

"Still trying to make sure I'M not," said Venus. "I mean, you never told us how you got your Planet Power, but I never imagined it would be your mother's old locket!"

Sailor Mini-Moon's eyes narrowed. "Wait a second. You knew I was a Sailor Scout all this time? And you never told me?"

"Well, we didn't know when it would happen," said Venus. "And we didn't want to interfere with the... uh... natural process...." She sighed. "Would you believe we just didn't think about it?"

"This is so cool!" shouted Mini-Moon. "If you already knew about it, that means I must go back to the past again!"

A bead of sweat ran down Venus' forehead. "Yeah... I guess that would be the bright side."

"It's going to be so much fun! In the past, I can be just like a normal kid and not have to worry about being the Moon Princess and studying to take over the throne and everything. And Serena's so much fun to tease! Plus, now that I'm a Sailor Scout, I can fight monsters with Sailor Moon and everybody else!" She paused just a bit between every pair of sentences, waiting for Venus to say something, but the older woman was oddly quiet. Mini-Moon finally looked up at her and saw two drops of water trace their way down her cheeks. "Is something the matter?"

Venus shook her head. "No, it's nothing. You're growing up before my eyes."

Mini-Moon blushed. "Come on, let's finish cleaning this stuff up so we can go tell Mommy! She'll be so happy!"

Venus declined to comment. Instead, she bent down and started scooping up handfuls of trinkets, putting them back into the box. Mini-Moon reached down to do the same, but another relic from the past caught her eye. "Hey, it's Mommy's old disguise pen! I remember this thing!"

"Now there's something that brings back happy memories," said Venus.

"I always wanted to try it out for myself," said Mini-Moon. She held the wand aloft. "Turn me into... a Sailor Scout!" she shouted.

"You already are one," Venus reminded her.

Mini-Moon chuckled. "Oh, yeah. It's been my dream for so long I just said that without thinking." The transformation pen began to glow in Mini-Moon's hand. "Hey! What's it doing?"

"I don't know! It never used to do that when your mother used it!"

"I think it's changing shape," said Mini-Moon. "Stupid pen! You're supposed to transform ME, not yourself!"

Ignoring Mini-Moon's tirade, the wand sprouted a large projection that quickly took the shape of a heart. The glow faded, leaving an instrument that bore almost no resemblance to the original pen. Mini-Moon gazed at it in wonder. "What happened to it?"

"That's your wand," Venus informed her. "Way back when you first had your powers, you used it to attack."

Mini-Moon's wondering grin widened. "My own wand? This is the coolest!"

"Well, it didn't work all that well at first," Venus continued. "It took you a long time to get the hang of it."

"It's been a thousand years since then," Mini-Moon reasoned. "I can handle it." She took a few practice swings, with all the grace and skill of a one-legged giraffe crossing a briar patch.

Venus groaned in disgust. "That's not how you use it, unless you're trying to make your enemies laugh themselves to death."

Mini-Moon let her hands fall to her sides. "Then how?" she asked indignantly.

Venus sighed. "You point it at the target and say the attack phrase. I think your first one was 'Candy Heart Shooter' or something like that."

"Candy Heart Shooter? It shoots candy?"

Venus shook her head. "No, that wasn't it... I forget what the words were, exactly."

"Valentine Candy Attack?" suggested Mini-Moon. "Heart Sprinkles? Sugar Candy Hearts?"

"That was closer... something about pink hearts, I think."

"Pink Sugar Heart Attack?" guessed Mini-Moon. It felt right as she said it, and even more right as a succession of pink hearts shot from the tip of the wand and knocked over one of the boxes. It landed with a crash of breaking glass, and Mini-Moon and Venus gasped in unison.

"Now you've done it!" said Venus. "That sounded expensive. Probably some family heirloom or something."

Mini-Moon belatedly hid the wand behind her back. "Well, at least we know it works."

Venus shook her head disapprovingly as she picked up the fallen box and opened it. Inside was a smaller box with what had once been a curved glass lid, which now lay in pieces among the wires and electronic components inside. There were two knobs beside the opening, surrounded by numbers, and a small button below the knobs. Venus lifted the small box out of the larger one, gathering up the cord that dangled from the bottom. "Wow, it's been ages since I saw one of these."

"What is it?" asked Mini-Moon.

"You should remember," replied Venus. "It's an old television set, like the ones they used to have before wallscreens were invented."

"That's a TV?" Mini-Moon reconstructed the screen in her mind. "I guess it looks like a TV... but what are those knobs on the front? And those funny wires on the top that look like bunny ears?"

"The knobs change the channel, and the wires are the antenna. It picks up signals from the air. It used to be all they had before they came up with a way to run the signal into the TV through cables."

"Wow! I wanna see that!" Seconds went by before the smile faded from her face. "Oh, yeah. It's broken."

"You know, I wonder why TV started out wireless and then got tied to land wires, when everything else people invented back then was wired first and then became wireless later," Venus mused.

"But what are we going to do about the broken TV?" asked Mini-Moon.

Venus gave it a few seconds of thought, then put the TV back into its box, closed the flaps, and hefted it. "Sailor Mercury might know how to fix it. And she probably won't tell the queen if we ask her nicely."

"Good idea!" agreed Mini-Moon. They left the room, forgetting to turn off the light behind them. But it probably didn't matter in the end. For as long as it took them to cross the hallway, the door stood resolutely in place, the portal to the mysterious electrically lit storage area where Rini had become Mini-Moon. But once they had turned the corner, all that remained in that spot was a smooth wall, with no sign that a door had ever existed there.

*************************************************

The door to Sailor Mercury's workshop disintegrated, providing Mercury a welcome excuse to set her work aside. She turned to greet her visitors, but the words caught in her throat when she saw who had interrupted her. "Sailor Mini-Moon!" she cried excitedly. "I can't believe it!" She leapt out of her chair and ran across the room to lift Mini-Moon off her feet and swing her around.

"Hey! Put me down!" screamed Mini-Moon. "I'm not a kid anymore!"

Mercury promptly returned Mini-Moon to her feet. "Of course not. I'm sorry. I was just so surprised to see that you've finally gained your Planet Power that I got a bit excited."

"A bit excited?" repeated Mini-Moon. "It's a good thing I didn't eat much for breakfast." She staggered until Venus could prop her up, dropping the box she was holding to catch the girl.

Mercury gasped. "Sailor Venus! What are you doing here?"

Venus blinked. "You sound surprised."

"Your aides have been looking for you all afternoon. I've been paged four times already, and I'm expecting them to call again any minute. Where have you been?"

"Wait, back up," said Venus. "What do you mean, all afternoon? It's only -" She looked down at her palm, and a digital readout of the time appeared there. "Whoa! When did it get that late?"

"As soon as it was done being earlier," replied Mercury. "Nobody's seen or heard from you for hours."

"I didn't think I was that good at hide-and-seek," said Venus. "It was an hour and a half at most. Besides, if they were really looking for me, they'd have called me."

"They did," said Mercury. "Every fifteen minutes."

"Is your communicator broken?" asked Mini-Moon.

A shrill beep filled the room until Venus could flip her communicator open. "Venus here," she said, bracing herself for the torrent of anger.

Instead, her aide sounded more concerned than anything else. "My God! Lady Venus, where have you been? We've been worried sick!"

"I'm still trying to figure that out myself," said Venus, feeling the onset of a major headache. "I'll let you know what I find out. Meanwhile, how's the meeting preparation coming?"

Monique sighed heavily. "No luck yet. I just called the first time to ask why you hadn't called me yet. After that... well, I got worried."

"I know what you mean. Just keep working on it."

"I will. But you have to promise to call me every so often this time. I can't concentrate without your impatient nagging."

Venus sneered sheepishly. "Right, right. Just do your job, Monique." She slammed the communicator shut and let it vanish. "The poor girl probably wouldn't even be able to get to work in the morning without me." She stepped forward, tripped over the box she'd been carrying, and fell flat on her face.

Mercury shook her head sadly. "I'll just point out that her job DOES revolve entirely around you."

"Thanks. I needed that extra insult for my injury."

Mini-Moon threw her arms around the box and picked it up. "Sailor Mercury, we found this box in a storage room, but it fell down and the TV inside broke. Can you fix it?"

"A TV?" asked Mercury. "I didn't think we still had any of those in the Moon Palace." She took the box from the struggling Mini-Moon. "And I was quite certain we didn't have any cardboard boxes left. Everything was vacuum sealed centuries ago."

"Well, apparently, it wasn't all vacuum sealed," said Venus as she picked herself up. "The whole room was full of those boxes."

Mercury set the box down beside her workbench and opened it. "Oh, my! This isn't even one of the late models! This predates hyperwave, raster-pixellated screens, even plasma! I'd be surprised if it even has a coaxial connection." She hauled the TV out of the box and put it on the workbench. "Indeed. This is some of the earliest color television technology from the middle of the twentieth century. I can't imagine why anyone would have kept one all this time."

"Well, someone clearly did," Venus pointed out. "And we broke it. So...?"

"Let me see what I can do," offered Mercury. She extracted a piece of glass from the inside of the set and dropped it into a slot on her workbench. "Computer, analyze this material and produce a substitute."

"ANALYZING," replied the disembodied voice of the computer.

Mercury leaned back and sighed. "Fortunately, this is the easiest thing I've had on my plate today. I've been running palace security detail nonstop, what with you missing and Jupiter fighting monsters in the Sea of Rage with Mars since mid-morning."

"Jupiter went with Mars?" asked Venus. "Since when has Mars needed help?"

"The miasma readings were abnormally high," explained Mercury. "Nearly three times the highest on record over the past seven hundred years. We think it might be linked to the queen's illness, but defeating the monsters is a much higher priority than investigating the cause. Fortunately, Mars and Jupiter seem to have the situation under control. They called you for backup early on, but you were unreachable."

"We've established that," said Venus.

"ANALYSIS COMPLETE," announced the computer. "CONSTRUCTING LIGHT-SENSITIVE DISPLAY GRID."

"That took an awfully long time," said Mini-Moon.

"The computer didn't want to interrupt us," replied Mercury. "It probably finished that analysis long ago. Computer, vacuum." A tube emerged from the wall, and she pulled on it and aimed it into the television. With a quiet whirr, the tube sucked the remaining pieces of glass from the inside. When the job was done, the tube retracted into the wall. A curved crystal screen rose from the workbench surface, and Mercury carefully fitted it into the opening. "There. Good as new."

"Really?" asked Mini-Moon excitedly.

"The picture will be much sharper than it was on the old screen, but I doubt anyone will remember the original picture quality well enough to notice," explained Mercury. "It's still far inferior to modern screens."

"I still wanna see!" said Mini-Moon.

Mercury sighed again. "Computer, give me a VHF hookup to the signal from Earth." A wire with a pair of forked leads poked out of the wall, and Mercury pulled it out and connected it to the back of the TV. "There's a single channel that still broadcasts on Earth, and that signal makes it all the way to the Moon with some delay. It usually isn't very interesting, but it carries some of the most important news stories as well as the worst of amateur programming." She pushed the plug into the wall and turned the power knob. The screen slowly filled with snow.

"Is it broken?" asked Mini-Moon.

"No, it's just on the wrong channel," replied Mercury. "I believe this station broadcasts on the lowest frequency." She turned the knob to 2, and the picture changed. It was an image of President Auberge descending a staircase, waving off the floating cameras and reporters shouting questions.

"Hey! Turn it up!" Venus shouted urgently. "It's a story about that jerk Auberge!"

Mercury obligingly turned the volume knob. "- his plan to uncover the secret of Planet Power, which has been rumored for several months. Auberge refused to comment, but an aide who wished to remain anonymous was willing to discuss the details of this plan."

Venus leaned in close to listen, unnecessarily holding up a hand to silence the other two.

"'The President hopes to convince other countries that Planet Power might be a threat if the New Moon Kingdom remains the only nation capable of wielding it,'" continued the announcer, reading the text that appeared on the screen. "'With this motivation, he will head an investigation into the nature of Planet Power, either with the aid of the New Moon Kingdom or the collective aid of every other country on Earth.' When asked whether this action would constitute war, the aide assured us that it would not, then closed the connection before we could ask any further questions."

"That bastard!" shouted Venus. "I can't believe he'd pull something so...." The color drained from her face as she realized what she'd said. "Um, Rini, could you not tell your mother I said that?"

Mini-Moon rolled her eyes. "As IF I'd tell her. Mommy shelters me too much as it is. She thinks I'll fall apart if I hear the word 'underpants'."

"Your mother's just trying to raise you properly," said Mercury.

"She's trying to prevent me from being raised at all," countered Mini-Moon. "I wasn't going to be a kid forever. I just grow really slowly."

"It's what comes of being born to immortals," said Mercury.

Venus angrily reached past Mercury to turn the power knob so hard that it nearly broke off. She spun on her heel and stormed toward the door.

"Hey, where are you going?" asked Mini-Moon.

"I have to tell Queen Serenity about this," she replied. "That man has gone too far this time!"

"Wait!" Sailor Mercury called after her. "Should we tell her about...?" She jerked her head toward Mini-Moon.

Venus sighed. "Well, she did ask us to tell her the moment it happened.... It's a pretty stressful time for her right now, but I think it needs to be done. Something tells me she'll be making that decision soon, and she needs to know."

"Know what?" asked Mini-Moon.

"Nothing," said Venus. "Come on. We've got more to tell your mom about than what's going on on Earth."

*************************************************

Neo-Queen Serenity rolled over in her bed at the sound of the urgent knock on the bedroom door. "Who is it?" she called out in as regal a voice as she could manage.

"It's Venus," came the reply. "There are some urgent matters that need your immediate attention."

Serenity fought down a wave of nausea. "Come in."

Venus opened the door and entered the room just in time to see the pain in Serenity's face. "I'm truly sorry about this," she began. "I know you're not feeling well, and I wouldn't disturb your rest if this could wait even a few more hours."

Serenity nodded weakly. "Yes. I trust your judgment. What did you need to tell me?"

Venus hesitated meaningfully. "Well... I suppose the first thing would be... you have another visitor." She stepped aside, beckoning Mini-Moon into the room.

Serenity's heart caught in her throat as she laid eyes upon her daughter in her Sailor Scout uniform for the first time in centuries. "My god... it can't be... the Sailor Scout of the Crystal Moon?"

"For now, she's Mini-Moon," corrected Venus.

Serenity held out her arms and forced a smile. "Come here, Small Lady. Let me see you in your beautiful new uniform."

Mini-Moon obligingly approached the bed, preparing to turn around to give her mother a better view of the uniform. But as soon as she was within arm's reach, Serenity swept her off the floor and into a hug. It was an uncomfortable position, but she did her best to return the hug despite having no leverage. Her arms quickly started to ache, but she kept that to herself, sensing that her mother needed this embrace for some reason she couldn't fathom.

When her spine started to hurt, she could keep it to herself no longer. "Mommy... it hurts."

"Just a little longer," whispered Serenity. "Please... just a little longer."

Mini-Moon felt a tiny bit of moisture on the back of her neck and shivered. Was she sweating? No, it was... "Mommy, are you crying?"

"They're tears of joy, my daughter," replied Serenity. "You've grown up so quickly."

"I still look like a kid after ninety years," Mini-Moon reminded her.

"Too fast," Serenity whispered. "All too fast."

Venus stood in the doorway, tears pouring down her cheeks as she watched.

"Does your father know about this?" asked Serenity.

"We didn't see him on the way here," said Mini-Moon. "Sailor Venus said we should tell you first."

Serenity sniffed daintily and finally released Mini-Moon, allowing the girl to breathe freely once again. "Thank you for bringing her to me, Sailor Venus."

Venus grimly nodded.

"You mentioned more business," continued Serenity. "Should we send my daughter away?"

"She's already heard more than she needs to," replied Venus, thinking of her lingual slip. "I think it would be best if she stays here."

Serenity nodded and began to pet Mini-Moon's head lightly. "Then please, carry on."

Venus took a deep breath. "My aides haven't been able to arrange a meeting with any Earth governments yet, but our plans may have to change anyway. We intercepted a signal from the broadcast channel that gave us an idea of what President Auberge is planning. It looks like he's planning to lead the CCS to declare war on the New Moon Kingdom."

Serenity nodded gravely. "As I feared... yet another omen."

"He's using Planet Power as the catalyst," Venus added. "He has to know that we can't reveal the secret of Planet Power, because there isn't one. But he's convinced the rest of the world that we're hoarding it for ourselves, and by the time he's done propagandizing, they'll be willing to do whatever it takes to get their hands on it."

"It has been tried before," Serenity reminded her.

"But never by the entire world at once," countered Venus. "Small groups tried to harness Planet Power and usually destroyed themselves before they could get very far. But if the entire world's scientific community bands together, that inevitable destruction will wipe out more than just a few people."

Before Serenity could reply, the palace loudspeakers clicked on. "Attention, citizens of the New Moon Kingdom. We have just been informed that shuttle service to Earth will be terminated effective immediately. There will be one final shuttle for emergency transport in exactly fifty-seven minutes. Repeat -"

Venus had her communicator out before the message could replay. "Monique, change of plan. Get me on that shuttle!"

"Already making the arrangements," replied Monique. "Are you going to be able to pack, or should I have someone prepare your inventory?"

"Get someone to do it," ordered Venus. "I've got more business to take care of here." She closed the communicator and turned back to Serenity, who was hugging Mini-Moon tightly once again. She decided to keep quiet and not interrupt the precious moment.

"Is Sailor Venus going to go away now?" asked Mini-Moon, who had finally found a reason to shed tears.

"Yes, she will," replied Serenity. "But don't worry. You're going to be spending lots of time with her and the other Sailor Scouts."

Mini-Moon's eyes lit up. "You mean... you're sending me back to the past?"

Serenity nodded slowly. "I think things are going to be rather hectic for a while in this time, and nobody will be available to train you in the use of your new powers. I think you'll be safest in the past until everything here is settled. My past self and the other Sailor Scouts will teach you how to use your powers to the fullest in the meantime."

"Yay!" cheered Mini-Moon. "Thank you, Mommy!" This time, she was the one who started the hug, but her mother returned it in full.

"Run along, dear," said Serenity. "I'm sure you're going to want to say your goodbyes before you leave."

"Yeah." Mini-Moon let go and stepped away from the bed. "I'm going to miss you while I'm gone."

Serenity smiled. "I'll be right there with you. I'll just be a few centuries younger than I am now."

Mini-Moon giggled. "Oh, Mommy... I love you so much."

Serenity's smile became rather comically twisted as she tried to hide her tears. "Go on, dear. I'm afraid I won't be able to see you off, but my love will go with you."

Mini-Moon gave her mother one final hug and a kiss. "Bye, Mommy. I promise I'll come back so strong you won't recognize me!"

"I know you will," said Serenity. "I was there." She waved as Mini-Moon ran from the room, excitedly proclaiming her joy at being sent to the past again.

"Are you sure about this?" asked Venus once the girl was gone. "You know what happened to her when she went back the second time."

Serenity's eyes closed. "Yes. I'm reminded of it every day while Mars fights to keep my people safe. I know I'll never see my daughter again. But if our suspicions are correct, then her fate is better than what would become of her if she were to stay here. What will become of all of us."

Venus swallowed nervously. "What would that be?"

"I don't know," Serenity sobbed. "I'm never going to see her again... and I don't know what's going to become of my kingdom...." She buried her face in her hands and cried.

"It's not that bad!" protested Venus. "It's just a political thing. All I have to do is patch things up on Earth a bit diplomatically, and we'll get the shuttle restored, and everything will be back to normal."

Serenity didn't respond. Venus started to embrace her, then thought better of it and left to prepare for her flight.

It would be three days before Serenity's tears stopped, and two months after that before she spoke another word.

*************************************************

Venus stepped off the ramp and into the cold night air, clutching her inventory tightly in both hands. She didn't recognize the spaceport where the shuttle had landed; in her frustration over the political situation she was being forced to leap into headfirst as well as her haste to make it to Earth in the tiny window of opportunity she had, she hadn't noticed that the shipboard announcements had not once mentioned their destination. The other passengers seemed unconcerned, making their way into the spaceport or to the waiting taxis as if they were in full control of their situations. She couldn't be the only one who'd hopped the ship urgently and hadn't been able to make plans for her arrival, could she?

She grabbed someone by the sleeve as he tried to walk away from the shuttle. "Hey, where are we?" she asked him.

"Earth," he replied. "Look, I have to go. My wife and kids are waiting for me." He pulled away from her and ran.

"Hey! I meant what spaceport is this?!" she called after him. But he didn't respond, leaving Venus alone beside the shuttle, lost and clueless.

Venus sighed heavily and set off for the spaceport. The name of the building wasn't featured anywhere she could see, but there would probably be something inside that would tell her where she was.

"Lady Venus!"

She turned toward the source of the voice and saw a man in an orange business suit standing beside a limousine. "Who are you?" she asked. "Did you know I was coming?"

"We expected that you would be arriving when we heard about the shuttle termination," he replied. "Our president arranged to have you picked up here. Unless you have other arrangements...?"

"No, nothing," she replied, shaking her head. "I could use a ride. So, which president are you talking about?"

He bowed. "Forgive me. I represent a resistance group that hopes to stop our country's leader from siding with President Auberge. We don't have much political power, but with your support, we may be able to realize our goal."

"I'm not a miracle worker," said Venus, blushing slightly. "But I didn't really have a plan... I guess I have to start somewhere." She approached the car, and he opened the door for her before climbing in himself. The engine started as soon as the door was closed.

"I didn't catch your name," said Venus as they started to move.

"I didn't give it to you," the man quipped.

Venus laughed. "No, seriously, who are you?" Something was beginning to stink about the whole situation, and she wished she'd smelled it sooner.

There was a soft hiss, and the smell became considerably less figurative. Venus quickly held her breath, hoping that she hadn't already inhaled too much of whatever gas was being pumped into the passenger compartment.

"Even the great Sailor Venus has to breathe eventually," the man pointed out as his eyes began to close. "Don't try to fight it."

Venus covered her mouth and nose with her hand and swung around in her seat, kicking the nearest window as hard as she could. The polysteel didn't even scratch. She turned over and grabbed the door handle, but it predictably refused to budge. Her lungs were already starting to ache, and she was trapped in the tiny compartment filled with gas and her unconscious abductor. She reached across to feel his wrist, but her fingers were already too numb to detect whether or not he still had a pulse. Her eyes clouded, and she couldn't hold it any more. Her mouth opened of its own accord, and she gasped a lungful of the gas. A chill instantly filled her body, and her head dropped.

Thinking quickly, she ran her fingers across the top of her inventory and extracted her communicator. It fell through her weakened grip and landed in her lap. She could only hope it had fallen open as it tended to whenever she dropped it accidentally. "Help me," she whispered as the darkness took her. Her body slumped in the seat, and her senses shut down completely.

The limo sped on through the unmarked streets, taking its two unconscious passengers to their ultimate ill-fated destination.


End file.
